Gevorg Malkhasyan was elected mayor of Sevan in 2002. His uncle’s son
and former vice-mayor Robert Malkhasyan was running against him.
However, Gevorg Malkhasyan won the election with 2500 votes.
During this time period, according to residents of Sevan, the city has
changed for the better. First of all, the bathrooms have been
remodeled, the streets and roads have been fixed, lights have put on
the streets for nighttime, the city’s entrance from the western part
has been formed, and the greenery of the city is being improved and
added. “The mayor likes to spend money,” say the residents of Sevan,
“if he gets any kind of money, he spends it all on the city because he
has income from somewhere else and he does not care about those
pennies. He even spends money from his pocket. As soon as he finds out
that an important person is going to visit or there is an accumulation
of garbage, he does not even look at how much he has. He takes out the
money from his pocket, gives it and orders the place to be cleaned up
fast.” The present day mayor has inherited a loan from the former
mayor, he has closed the debt and accumulated a new debt. The lender is
“HyeRusGazard” who has taken hold of the city council building in
exchange of the resident’s debts. Today, the city has many unsolved
problems. Vice-mayor Robert Malkhasyan places great importance on the
drinking water and the population’s occupation.
Sevan has always had a problem with water, but now it has crossed the
limit. “The water we drink is from the sewer,” affirm the residents of
the city. Sevan gets water from Gavar. The pump station is located in
Hatsarat. “Even if some unintelligent person sees the sewer, he will
agree with the fact that the station can not continue like that. If
anyone thinks about throwing something in the water, he or she can do
it easily,” says the vice-mayor. The water passes 7 districts before
reaching Sevan. The sewer and water pipe lines have a history of over
40 years and have been subjected to corrosion a long time ago. Nearly
2000 people are looking for jobs in the employment agencies of Sevan.
This year, the agency has provided 109 people with jobs. The jobs are
primarily seasonal, private jobs.
It is hard to get any information about the industrial businesses in
Sevan. “There was a time when those businesses used to provide us with
information regarding their activities. That gave us an opportunity to
get a total picture of the industry in its entirety,” says vice mayor.
Currently, the city council does not receive that kind of information.
They don’t even give them the right to say which business does what and
if it even exists at all. They just tell you to go to the inspector’s
office. The chief inspector of Sevan H. Grigoryan says: “Oh, what else
would you like to know?” How about the location of the sugar factory in
Sevan? He says: “There is a factory, but it does not function. Why do
you care?” After half an hour, we saw that the sugar factory was
working. The owner of the factory Armen Arakelyan told one of the
workers to inform us that “He was not there”. Out of curiosity, we met
with Mr. Arakelyan again and he said “I was there, I had my hands full
and plus, I have nothing to say to journalists.” Armen Arakelyan has
been lucky enough to be interviewed by the “Horizon” literary magazine
(editor-Abgar Spinyan). The journalist went by the name of Shogik and
Abgar spent 150 dollars for that. H. Manukyan, the owner of the
“Equipping Executive Factory” open joint-stock company, also paid 100
dollars to “Horizon”. One of the workers at the Sevan sugar factory
complains that they work 12 hours a day and only get 35-40,000 drams.
They also produce 10 tons of sugar. That product has been found in
stores only one time. “The sugar was the color of yellow. Sure, it
tasted good, but the color made the people not want to buy it.”
The territorial department of the regional statistical agency in the
Gegharkunik region also has no information about the activities of
Sevan’s sugar factory. One of the workers at the department made it
clear that they are not interested in knowing whether or not the
factory works. From that point of view, the sugar factory is not the
only one that people are not interested in.
The residents of Sevan do not make a lot of rumor about the sugar
factory because they remember how the founder Hambartsum Hovhannisyan,
his wife and child died as a result of a gas explosion in their home in
2002. “Hambartsum was also a share-holder of the “Equipping Executive
Factory”. He had enemies. It is not easy to have an enemy,” said the
residents of Sevan. The relatives of H. Hovhannisyan did not appeal to
the court for what had happened. “They had to find some innocent
person, put him in court and sentence him,” said Hambartsum
Hovhannisyan’s brother Levon Hovhannisyan. Mr. Hovhannisyan’s family
does not talk about the incident. They don’t want to put Hambartsum’s
two saved children in danger. Their uncle, Levon Hovhannisyan, has
taken full responsibility of caring for the children. Only their
mother, Alvart Hovhannisyan still hopes that the government might help
them with getting an apartment for her grandchildren Arsen and Aram.
One of the grandchildren is already a college student and the other is
in the 9th grade.