Residents of Qonaqkend say the water level of the Velvele river is rising to dangerous levels.
“Every year we ask official organizations for help, but without results. The rising water level is a threat to our lives”, residents of the village told Meydan TV.
Village resident Niyatulla Orujov says that the danger has been increasing in recent years.
“The current situation is critical. After heavy rains, the level of the river reaches the fences of our houses. The water gets into the backyards of most of the residents, and their gardens are damaged as a result. Many residents cannot even let out their cattle because it is hard for them to cross to the other bank of the river”.
According to Orujov, more than 1500 residents’ farms have been damaged.
“And now their own lives are under threat. Despite the varied landscape in these parts, urgent measures are needed, and yet we have seen none taken so far”, says Orujov, adding that the residents of the village have appealed on multiple occasions to the Quba Region Executive Authority and to the local municipal authorities for help.
Orujov says last year a flood increased the size of the riverbed, ‘drowning’ the village of Atush in its enlargement.
“Residents expect a flood at any moment, at any second. Last year in September I sent a telegram to the Ministry of Emergency Situations, which they forwarded to the State Agency of Construction Safety Control under the Ministry. After a while I got a very complicated and non-specific response.”
“From their answer we understand that despite the fact that the current situation is very critical, they are not in a hurry to do anything. Because of this indifferent response we sent a letter to the Ministry again. The reality is that they don’t care about the residents of this village,” adds Niyatulla Orujov.
Meydan TV spoke to the local authorities.
“I don’t have any information on this issue. The village flooded, or whaever happened, I don’t know about it,” says Tariyel Ibrahimov, the chief of the press service of Quba Regional Executive Authority.
According to the office department of the local executive power, there is not enough money to build a proper dam.
“The Cabinet of Ministers should first give the order, then the money should be allocated. Only after that can we do something”.
The Ministry of Emergency Situations did not respond to questions on this issue.
