"Bishkek Residents Concerned About the Environmental Situation in the Capital"
On April 3, a mass protest called "We are suffocating" took place in the capital of Kyrgyzstan.
More than a hundred residents of Bishkek gathered near the city hall with numerous placards calling to stop the mass cutting down of greenery and chaotic construction. The participants demanded the resignation of city officials, particularly the mayor of Bishkek Albek Ibraimov, vice-mayor Bakytbek Dyushembiev, and the chairman of the Bishkek city council Almaz Kenenbaev.
The citizens are tired of enduring the mass felling of trees, which has been ongoing for several years due to road reconstruction and expansion, as well as spot construction in Bishkek. The protesters wore medical masks to visually demonstrate that it has become truly impossible to breathe freely in Bishkek. Participants took turns approaching the megaphone to express their dissatisfaction and propose their solutions for improving the ecological situation.
– What is happening now is indeed a disaster. There was a green city, Frunze, that everyone was proud of, then it became the capital Bishkek – beautiful, huge. Now the city hall is turning the city into a village that no one will be proud of in the future. Every president comes in as a millionaire and leaves as a billionaire. Today, garages, parks, and playgrounds are taken away just like that. The police disperse citizens when they do not allow trees to be cut down. And courts impose reprimands and fines on citizens who selflessly defend the trees. Where are we headed? – throws up his hands Yuri Andreev, a representative of the NGO "Power of the People's Will".
Participants urged each other not to be indifferent, to protect and defend the green face of the capital, which is fading year by year.
– Since the arrival of former Prime Minister Temir Sariev to power, the cutting down of greenery has begun. It started with Issyk-Kul and spread throughout the country. They have destroyed poplars and black locusts, which produce 60 liters of oxygen annually. If two years ago a square meter of black locust cost 500 US dollars, today it is 250 dollars. The felling of trees is taking on industrial scale. Instead of black locusts, linden trees are being planted, which may not survive in our climate. Even now, local whirlwinds have begun to occur in the city, which are tearing off roofs. This is a consequence of the destruction of tons of rising air. Accordingly, we are causing damage not only to Kyrgyzstan but also to neighboring countries and the ecology of the entire planet, – said Toktayim Umetalieva, a human rights activist, to the portal's correspondent.
In addition, the residents of the capital are also concerned about the destruction of architecturally significant buildings and structures, the detailed planning project, which, in the opinion of the citizens, was developed in violation of land use regulations, as well as the multi-million dollar debts of the state.
– Today, not only the city but our entire country is in danger: huge external and internal debts, the cutting down of the most valuable tree species that provided oxygen and moisture. Alright, we adults are suffocating, but what will happen to the children who are already suffering from various diseases that were unimaginable in Soviet times? Why are multi-million dollar grants being utilized by the Chinese and not by Kyrgyz citizens? Our kids are valued abroad, but not here. With such leadership, we cannot protect ourselves or build a state strategy for the people to live well, self-sufficiently, without fear, with laws that protect them. We are dying as a state. This worries me greatly. And this concerns not only us, it concerns the police and the government as well. Are they all planning to live abroad? We will soon lose our state; debts do not forgive, – shared her opinion Maria Abakirova, a participant in the protest.
Many noted the deplorable state of the Big Chui Canal, in the construction of which in the 1940s the older generation of Kyrgyzstanis directly participated.
– The BCC is a major water artery of our Kyrgyzstan; my great-grandfather and my grandmother dug it with their own hands. Today, the Chui Canal has turned into a dump. Can't some funds be allocated to clean the irrigation complex? We cannot ignore the construction near the city cemetery in Chon-Aryk, where houses are being built right along the graves. Is this acceptable? People are being poisoned by cadaveric poison. I look at all this lawlessness, and it makes me upset, – noted Bishkek resident Alexander Russo, who came to the rally.
Periodically, activists shouted slogans like "We are suffocating," "Mayor resign!" "The mayor must go!" An initiative was voiced to hold city officials, as well as representatives of the municipal enterprise "Bishkekzelenhoz" and the State Agency for Environmental Protection, criminally liable for compensating economic and ecological damage.
All demands were recorded in the resolution of the peaceful gathering, under which participants left their signatures.
The residents of Bishkek waited for at least one representative of the city hall to come out to them, but there was no response from the municipal authorities.
It should be noted that according to the municipal enterprise "Bishkekzelenhoz," in 2017 almost 3,000 trees were cut down, of which only 840 were emergency. Directly related to road reconstruction, just over 2,000 trees were felled. Plans for 2018 include cutting down another two and a half thousand trees for road reconstruction.
