While praising the 1,200 snow removers for their services in cleaning Yerevan streets from the large quantity of snow that fell last week, Yerevan Mayor Taron Margaryan had harsh words today for Sanitek, the company that has the municipal contract for garbage and snow removal.

During a meeting of municipal services heads today, Mayor Margaryan stated that he was dissatisfied with the way Sanitek organized snow removal of the streets in Armenia’s capital over the past few days.

Snow started to fall on New Year’s Eve and lasted for two days. Margaryan said that the amount of snow that fell, the equivalent of an average one month’s snow, naturally created problems for Sanitek and thus he had instructed all municipal agencies to join forces with the company to clean Yerevan’s streets and intersections.

Margaryan also pointed a finger at Yerevan’s district councils for failing to adequately organize local snow removal operations.

The mayor, in his address, had nothing to say regarding commercial enterprises, stores and shops in Yerevan, and the need for them to clean the sidewalks outside their places of business.

Some businesses made an attempt, albeit halfhearted in many cases, to clean walkways outside their businesses. Others, however, didn’t even try.

Many Yerevan sidewalks, especially along secondary streets, remain precarious to pedestrians, covered as they are with ice.