YEREVAN, JANUARY 29, NOYAN TAPAN. At the January 29 sitting of the Armenian government, the prime minister Tigran Sargsyan stated that they will take consistent measures to resolve the situation in the gold market (in Yerevan's Khorenatsi Street) owned by Vagharsh & Sons Ltd. "We are not going to yield to the pressures that exist today. If that man cannot ensure normal working conditions for thousands of employees, there will be others ready to provide these services," the prime minister underlined. In his words, he received a letter from employees of the market, in which they complain about the terrible working conditions there. Even elementary working conditions are absent in the market, and there are numerous problems related to health, hygiene and sanitary conditions, heating, air conditioning, fire prevention, etc. In addition, they have to pay huge amounts for a square meter of trade space. Jewelry workshops of no smaller areas than a jewelry plant are operated in the market, but the safety rules are not observed there either. The prime minister said that the organizer of the trade place had told the employees of the market that "if they are dissatisfied with these conditions, they may leave their jobs". However, according to T. Sargsyan, these people have to put up with all this in order not to lose their jobs and small incomes. "At the same time the trade organizer conceals his superprofits from the state and at their expense builds elite houses in Tsakhkadzor," T. Sargsyan noted. Besides, according to him, hundreds of unregsitered employees were revealed, which is another manifestation of tax evasion.

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