"Construction workers of the Smart Village in Zangilan are dissatisfied with pay and living conditions, and leaving Zangilan," they tell reporters

Baku/30.12.21/Turan: Up to 300 construction workers hired to build the "Smart Village" in Zangilan complained to journalists about the lack of labor contracts, wages and normal living conditions.  They have not received their wages for two months. They were promised to transfer their wages to their cards, but they had no bank cards due to the absence of employment contracts.

On 1 December, the workers sent their complaints to the company's management. They were promised to look into their complaints. Eight people called the police telephone 102, and written complaints were taken from them afterwards.

One of the workers says that because of the cited above circumstances, some of the builders left the place of work, and the construction stopped for this reason.

The workers do not name the construction company that brought them to Zangilan to work in the area of the village of Üçüncü Ağalı destroyed by the occupiers. "They brought us in and threw us out here. We live in the cold, without basic conditions. There is a President in this state, we hope that he will deal with our problem," the worker said.

It should be added that the work on the construction of the "Smart Village" in Zangilan is demonstrated in the state TV channels. On October 20, it was reported that the construction of the Village is coming to an end.  The Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources reported on TV that 200 residential houses and four social buildings are nearly completed, and that environmental facilities, including an artificial lake, will also be put into operation by the end of the year.

The Ministry of Agriculture told Turan that a subcontractor who hired workers and did not settle the payment method with them was to blame. The firm offered to pay through a bank; however, the workers are demanding money in cash because they have difficulties in getting payment through ATMs.

"The Ministry of Agriculture is not involved in paying the construction workers.  We are just the customer paying for the work.  The Ministry of Agriculture has studied this issue, the problem with the workers has already been solved. I can't name a general contractor who has concluded a contract with the Ministry of Agriculture and hired subcontractors," said the head of the press service of the Ministry of Agriculture.

According to the media, AS Group Investment was appointed a general contractor for the construction of the "Smart Village.

However, a video of workers' complaints appeared on the network yesterday, they filed a complaints the other day, that is, it'd be too early to talk about the problem resolution.

Commenting on the workers' discontent, human rights activist Mirvari Gahramanly suggested that the workers appeal to the labor inspectorate under the Ministry of Labor and Social Security. "If there is no benefit, let them go to court," she said.

Note that for 6 months of 2021, 10.8 million manats were allocated to the Ministry of Agriculture for the implementation of the project "Smart Village" in the territory of village Agaly-2 of Zangilan region of Azerbaijan.

Pursuant to the Ministry of Finance of Azerbaijan, in January-June 2021 the Azerbaijani government spent AZN 372.1 million within the framework of the program of rehabilitation of the liberated territories, including Zangilan region.

It was the head of state who launched the first project "Smart Village" in April 2021. In the last decade of October President Ilham Aliyev traveled to Zangilan region and got acquainted with the work. Minister of Agriculture Inam Karimov said that construction works are carried out on the territory of over 110 ha within the project detailing about what kind of "Smart City-Garden" it was going to be here in the nearest future.

Several Azerbaijani architects in interviews with journalists compared the "Smart Village" in Zangilan with the so-called "Potemkin villages" (i.e. fake to deceive the leader of the country) in imperial Russia.-0-