The “Caspian Water Transfer to Semnan” Plan Disrupts the Order of Iran’s Parliament

Some members of parliament protested against the “Caspian Water Transfer to Semnan” plan at the position of the parliamentary board. About 40 representatives also objected to this plan in a letter to Rouhani. Environmental activists and some organizations are opposed to this plan.

Approximately 40 members of the Islamic Consultative Assembly sent a letter to Hassan Rouhani, the President of Iran, expressing their opposition to the plan to transfer Caspian Sea water to the central desert and Semnan Province. This plan caused tension in parliament and for a moment disrupted the order of the Iranian parliament session.

Opponents of this plan in their letter, the text of which was published today, Monday, October 22 (October 14), by the Fars News Agency, expressed surprise at why “despite objections from the parliament research center, the strategic studies center of the presidency, the natural resources and watershed management department of Mazandaran Province, experts from various fields, and representatives of northern provinces to the implementation of the Caspian Sea water transfer plan to the central desert and Semnan Province,” the “government still insists on implementing this plan.”

Request for Rouhani to Prevent Plan Implementation

These representatives in their letter, according to Fars News, the number of signatories of which is increasing, asked Hassan Rouhani to prevent the implementation of the Caspian water transfer plan to the central desert and Semnan Province, which they say would result in “environmental destruction” and “erosion of economic and social capital.”

The Islamic Consultative Assembly also temporarily lost order today due to protests from some representatives against this plan, which angered Masoud Pezeshkian, the Deputy Speaker of Parliament, who was presiding over the open session in the absence of Ali Larijani.

According to Iranian media reports, some representatives from northern provinces of Gilan, Mazandaran, and Golestan gathered today, Monday, at the position of the parliamentary board. They also carried placards with slogans such as “The people reject Caspian water transfer,” “Immediate impeachment of the energy minister,” “People will not allow the destruction of the Caspian Sea,” “Caspian water transfer destroys the environment,” and “Do not repeat the fate of Zayandeh Rud and Lake Urmia with the Caspian.”

According to the Young Journalists Club affiliated with Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting, “the gathering and noise of representatives from northern provinces disrupted the session for several minutes, and this angered Pezeshkian. The deputy speaker angrily shouted that representatives from Mazandaran are violating rules; sit down in your seats, sit down and pursue this matter.”

Some representatives from southern Iranian cities also joined the protesting representatives from northern provinces in criticizing the “Caspian Water Transfer to Semnan” plan.

According to Iran’s state news agency IRNA, “finally, the representatives showed their slogans to photographers and journalists and gradually descended and took their seats.”

The protest and gathering of representatives from northern provinces followed the release of a letter from Issa Kalantari, head of Iran’s Environmental Organization, stating that the Caspian Sea water transfer to Semnan was “objectionable.” These representatives had previously also protested strongly against this decision after Rouhani’s speech in parliament about the government’s intention to transfer Caspian water to Semnan, and had disrupted the session for a time.

This large-scale and expensive project is intended to annually transfer 200 million cubic meters of Caspian water to desalination and meet drinking water and industrial needs in the central desert and Semnan Province.

Opponents of this plan say that desalination and transfer of Caspian water to Iran’s central plateau will result in environmental destruction and disruption of the ecosystem of this lake and also exacerbate the water crisis in Semnan Province.

Mohammad Darvish, an environmental activist and expert, warned in 1396 about the implementation of the Caspian water transfer plan to Semnan and called it “a disaster larger than a nuclear catastrophe.”

This member of the scientific committee of Iran’s Institute of Forests and Rangelands Research recently also warned about the implementation of this plan.

Severe Protest from “Campaign Against Caspian Water Transfer to Desert”

Meanwhile, the “Campaign Against Caspian Water Transfer to Desert” emphasized, referring to the “severe pollution crisis” of this “closed water body,” that the Caspian Lake “cannot tolerate any manipulation.”

Khadijeh Gelin Moghaddam, the director of this campaign, in an open letter whose text was published today on social networks, referring to the approval of the head of Iran’s Environmental Organization for the Caspian water transfer plan to Semnan, stated that “Kalantari with this action showed that he has no understanding of Iran’s environment.”

The director of the “Campaign Against Caspian Water Transfer to Desert” also “while condemning this hasty, inappropriate, and unscientific action,” asked the “prosecutor general” to “as soon as possible on behalf of the Iranian people, especially the people of northern Iran,” against Reza Ardakanian, the Energy Minister, and Issa Kalantari, the head of the Environmental Organization “file charges.”

This campaign also asked, among others, members of parliament, the Ministry of Intelligence, the General Inspectorate of the country, the National Network of Non-Governmental Organizations for Environment and Natural Resources, the Organization of Forests, Rangelands and Watersheds, and Iran’s Crisis Management Organization to “draft a complaint” against the Energy Minister and the head of the Environmental Organization and submit it to Iran’s judiciary.

The implementation of the Caspian water transfer plan to Semnan Province, which was proposed in the mid-1980s, was assigned to Iran’s Water and Power Resources Development Company in 1391 during the second term of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iran’s former president. However, criticism and opposition from experts and environmental activists caused its implementation to be halted.

Source: DW