DUSHANBE, June 20, 2016, Asia-Plus – Law enforcement authorities of Khatlon’s Danghara district have launched an investigation into a mass brawl that took place in the district on the night of June 18-19, according to Radio Liberty’s Tajik Service .

40 young men from the Chorsada-1 village reportedly attacked residents of the Chorsada-2 village, who are resettlers from the Nourobod district (Rasht valley in eastern Tajikistan).  They were relocated to the Danghara district under the Roghun dam resettlement program. 

RFE/RL’s Tajik Service repots several people were injured and one of them was hospitalized.

We will recall that a program for resettling tens of thousands of villagers from the projected reservoir area of the giant Roghun Dam was launched in 2009.  

A special government regulation adopted in January 2009 envisaged the moving of more than 4,700 families, or about 30,000 people, from 63 villages in the districts of Roghun and Nourobod to Danghara, Tursunzoda, and Darband.  According to official reports, 600 families were resettled from the projected reservoir area in 2009, and about 1,000 families were relocated in 2010.

Since its introduction in 2009, the Roghun Dam resettlement scheme has drawn intensive criticism from the resettlers, human rights organizations and some political analysts. Criticism from the affected populations and human rights watchdogs have mostly focused on the inadequate compensation for displaced communities.