In November, the temperature dropped sharply and it once again became clear that the energy and gas supply organizations were not ready for the autumn-winter season.
Power outages and natural gas supply interruptions have become quite common in almost every single district of the country, restrictions have been imposed on electricity supply in many settlements.
Exhausted and irritated with the problems in the supply system, being cold at home, people started expressing their discontent on social networks.
On November 22, Kun.uz website published an article under the heading “Give the people electricity and gas!” – a painful topic on social networks”, summarizing the views expressed by the people.
Regarding the article, our editorial office received a warning letter signed by the AIMC Director Asadjon Khodjayev on November 23.
In the letter, AIMC objected to the statements made by Facebook users Dilshod Odilov and Ulugbek Khamdam that were included in the article.
“The material highlights the problems in the supply of electricity and natural gas to the population in a one-sided way,” the warning letter reads.
“The reasons for the decline in natural gas production in the country, the measures taken by the government to provide electricity, natural and liquefied gas to the population, in particular, a number of reforms carried out in the sphere were not mentioned in the article,” the letter said.
Although the text of the article did not contain any word or term regarding the government, the AIMC head claimed that “the government of Uzbekistan was accused of committing crimes against the population in the material.”
In fact, the material was about how people reacted to problems in the power supply system. It was not focusing on criticizing the government. The material intended to reflect the reality – in this case, the views expressed by citizens on social networks.
It is a fact that electricity is cut off for hours all over the country. This can be seen from the complaints on social networks and the thousands of appeals addressed to our editorial office.
Now take a look at the matter from a different prospective: the coronavirus pandemic is not over yet, it is still ongoing. People don’t have electricity and gas for even cooking in their house. Entrepreneurs are stalling, poultry and greenhouse crops are affected badly. In such a situation, should the mass media focus on a number of reforms carried out in the sphere (intended but not implemented yet in full) to modernize the existing energy complexes?
