Turkmenistan: Citizens Deny Government Claims of Repairs and Compensation
The Turkmen government is claiming that all the clean-up and repairs have been completed in Abadan, a town of 50,000 people about 20 miles outside of the capital of Ashgabat, devastated by an explosion in an arms depot July 7. Plans are also underway to build new apartment buildings and various public facilities, in keeping with President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov's orders to rebuild the town from scratch.
According to Turkmen state media reports, in a number of affected buildings, all the doors and windows blown out by the blast have been repaired and walls have been plastered and painted.
The government has retreated to describing the incident as an ignition of fireworks, although earlier it had conceded that ammunition was also involved. Independent eyewitnesses report that the explosion occurred at an arms depot and sent rockets flying as far away as 10 kilometers, showering shrapnel and unexploded ordnance all over the area.
The cost of the clean-up also appears to have been shouldered by private construction firms, and compensation from the government hasn't been forthcoming, says chrono-tm.org, the independent émigré news site. In their haste to return a semblance of normalcy, some companies have cut corners.
Despite their tragedy, Abadan residents have still been pressed into service for propagandistic state holidays, for example, 50 health workers from Abadan were recently forced to come and stand all day in a column to greet the president on Medical Workers' Day, says chrono-tm.org.
While the government claims everything's fine, the residents of Abadan are getting out the news that not everything has been repaired and they haven't received compensation.
Repair crews came and hastily fixed doors facing the street and white-washed exterior walls. But they sometimes put in flimsy doors made of plastic instead of wood, and inside the buildings, doors are still broken and walls unrepaired. Residents appealing to the local khyakim or administration are told that they have not received orders to provide aid so they cannot act.
A woman who has lived in Abadan for more than 30 years who requested anonymity told chrono-tm.org that she and others had not received any cash assistance or construction materials, despite the president's promises and rumors that collections were being taken up in some organizations to help them.
According to reports, people are now allowed to travel into Abadan freely, and soldiers on guard are only restricting entry to the site of the former arms depot.
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