Parliamentary Committee rejects Nikol Pashinyan's proposal (video)
One and a half milliard drams will be enough to handle social problems and challenges faced by the most vulnerable communities located on the border with Azerbaijan, says opposition lawmaker Nikol Pashinyan. Today he submitted a new bill to the National Assembly Standing Committee on Territorial Management and Local Self-Government. The bill foresees a number of privileges for border communities. “Under the draft law, the state will cover 50 percent of rates for natural gas, electricity, drinking water and irrigation,” said Mr Pashinyan. The lawmaker also offers to exempt border communities from the tax on land and property and provide subsidies to young families. Stepan Margaryan, a lawmaker of the Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK) who heads the NA Standing Committee on Territorial Management and Local Self-Government, said the proposals should not have been submitted in a separate bill. “If it were a package of amendments referring to various laws, I would immediately vote for it,” he said. Vache Terteryan, the First Deputy Minister of Territorial Management, proposed to defer the bill for some time as he had made a similar proposal to the government which will be put under consideration later this week. “In fact, you propose to defer a bill because of a non-existent bill,” said Nikol Pashinyan. After the recess, the Committee members put the bill to a vote. It received one vote in favour and five abstentions.
