HEADQUARTERS FOR HARVEST LAUNCHED
Nelson Stepanian

Azat Artsakh Daily, Republic of Nagorno Karabakh [NKR]
06 June 07

On May 29 the NKR minister of agriculture Vahram Baghdasarian held the
first meeting of the headquarters for harvest of grain in 2007. The
main issue was fire security and prevention of losses. By the way,
last year the fires destroyed over 2 thousand hectares of arable crops,
also damaging forests and meadows. The minister of agriculture said
considering this, the headquarters must take all the necessary measures
to prevent losses of arable crops in 2007. First, it is necessary to
make sure the preparations for the harvest are sufficient, eliminate
technical hitches, be ready to prevent fires. It is also necessary
to expose and punish wrongdoers. The director of the NKR Rescue
Service V. Arustamian said the list of fire security activities has
been worked out and handed over to the regional administrations. He
said it is necessary to provide more petrol and diesel fuel to fire
brigades and control the use of fuel, the quality of extinguishers,
and use agricultural machines apart from fire engines, because in
some parts a tractor may be more useful than a fire engine.

Extension is also important to facilitate the work of fire
brigades. The fire service is facing problems, namely most fire engines
need repair, the extinguishers are low quality, the government fails
to cover all the expenses. A proposal was offered to arrange with the
NKR defense ministry to involve the military personnel in fighting
fires if necessity occurs.