The plan to “transfer Caspian water to Semnan” disrupted the order of the Iranian parliament

Some members of parliament gathered at the presidium to protest the plan to “transfer Caspian water to Semnan.” About 40 members of parliament have also written a letter to Rouhani protesting the plan. Environmental activists and some institutions are opposed to the plan.

About 40 members of the Islamic Consultative Assembly have expressed their opposition to the plan to transfer Caspian water to the Central Desert and Semnan Province in a letter addressed to Iranian President Hassan Rouhani. The plan caused tension in the assembly and briefly disrupted the order of the Iranian parliament session.

In their letter, the text of which was published by Fars News Agency on Monday, October 14, the representatives opposing the plan expressed surprise as to why “despite the opposition of the Majlis Research Center, the Presidential Center for Strategic Studies, the General Directorate of Natural Resources and Watershed Management of Mazandaran Province, experts from various fields, and representatives of the northern provinces to the implementation of the plan to transfer Caspian Sea water to the Central Desert and Semnan Province,” the “honorable government continues to insist on implementing this plan.”

Demand to prevent Rouhani from implementing the plan

In their letter, the number of signatories of which is increasing, according to Fars, these representatives have called on Hassan Rouhani to prevent the implementation of the plan to transfer Caspian water to the Central Desert and Semnan Province, which, according to them, will result in "environmental destruction" and "erosion of economic and social capital."

The Islamic Consultative Assembly also lost its order for a while today due to the protest of a number of representatives against the plan, angering Masoud Pezhakian, the deputy speaker of the parliament, who was in charge of the public session in the absence of Ali Larijani.

According to Iranian media reports, a number of representatives from the northern provinces of Gilan, Mazandaran, and Golestan gathered at the presidium on Monday. They also carried placards with slogans such as “No to the transfer of Caspian Sea water,” “Immediate impeachment of the Minister of Energy,” “The people will not allow the destruction of the Caspian Sea,” “Transfer of Caspian water, destruction of the environment,” and “Let’s not repeat the calamity of Zayandeh-Roud and Urmia on the Caspian Sea.”

According to the Young Journalists Club affiliated with the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting, "The gathering and noise of representatives from the northern provinces disrupted the meeting for a few minutes, which angered the doctors. The vice-chairman of the meeting angrily shouted that the representatives from Mazandaran were violating the law; sit down in your seats, sit down and follow up on this issue."

Some representatives from southern Iranian cities have also joined the protesting representatives from northern provinces in criticizing the plan to "transfer Caspian water to Semnan."

According to the state-run IRNA news agency, "Finally, the representatives gradually descended and sat down in their seats, showing their slogans to photographers and reporters."

The protest and gathering of representatives from the northern provinces took place after the publication of a letter by Issa Kalantari, head of the Iranian Environmental Organization, stating that the transfer of Caspian Sea water to Semnan was “unimpeded.” These representatives had previously strongly protested this decision after Rouhani’s speech in the parliament about the government’s intention to transfer Caspian Sea water to Semnan, disrupting the order of the session for a while.

This large and costly project is intended to transfer 200 million cubic meters of Caspian water annually to the Central Desert and Semnan Province to provide drinking water and industrial uses.

Opponents of this plan say that desalination and transfer of Caspian water to the central plateau of Iran will lead to environmental destruction and disruption of the lake's ecosystem, as well as exacerbating the water crisis in Semnan Province.

Mohammad Darwish, an activist and environmental expert, warned in February 2017 against the implementation of the plan to transfer Caspian water to Semnan, calling it "a disaster greater than a nuclear disaster."

This faculty member of the Iranian Forest and Rangeland Research Institute had recently warned against the implementation of this plan.

Strong protest against the “Campaign against transferring Caspian water to the desert”

Meanwhile, the "Campaign Against Transferring Caspian Water to the Desert" has also emphasized that the Caspian Lake "does not tolerate any manipulation," citing the "severe pollution crisis" of this "closed water area."

Khadija Gelin Moghadam, the director of this campaign, in an open letter published on social media today, referred to the approval of the head of the Iranian Environmental Organization for the plan to transfer Caspian water to Semnan and stated that "the police department has shown by doing this that it has no knowledge of Iran's environment."

The director of the "Campaign Against the Transfer of Caspian Water to the Desert" also "condemned this hasty, improper, and unscientific act" and called on the "public prosecutor" to "declare a crime as soon as possible on behalf of the Iranian people, especially the people of northern Iran," against Reza Ardakanian, Minister of Energy, and Issa Kalantari, Head of the Country's Environmental Organization.

The campaign has also called on members of parliament, the Ministry of Intelligence, the General Inspectorate of the country, the National Network of Environmental and Natural Resources NGOs, the Forests, Rangelands and Watershed Management Organization, and the Iranian Crisis Management Organization to file a "complaint" against the Minister of Energy and the head of the Environmental Organization and submit it to the Iranian judiciary.

The implementation of the Caspian water transfer plan to Semnan Province, which was proposed in the mid-1980s, was notified to the Iran Water and Power Resources Development Company in 2012 during the second administration of former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. However, criticism and opposition from environmental experts and activists caused its implementation to be halted.

Source: DW