Memoirs of Akbar Hashemi – November 11, 1994

I woke up with the call to morning prayer and did not sleep again. The time until seven-thirty in the morning passed with listening to the news and reading the reports and internal information and reviewing today's programs. We went for the inauguration ceremony of the gas supply project to Kermanshah. The managers of the National Gas Company gave reports. With the press of a button, I lit the gas torch and expressed appreciation with short remarks. For Kermanshah, which is cold, gas piping is important.

We flew toward Paveh. We landed on a hill near the people's gathering place. The city and the region are very pleasant; with high mountains and forests and good weather. The people gave a magnificent welcome. The gathering of the people was far more than expected. Sunni Shafi'i and Kurd and all this expression of love for the system and for me and the enthusiastic slogans were surprising. After the mawlid recitation and the welcome and the presentation of demands by the governor and the Friday prayer leader and the city's representative, the report on the transfer of pastures was read by Mr. Mohammad Taqi Amanpour, the Deputy Minister of Construction Jihad, and I granted the documents to five of their representatives.

Before the speech I was severely besieged. I felt I would not be able to speak; like the situation that happened to me in Amlash, Gilan. I said to hold the gathering and said I was going for an urgent telephone call. I went to the passenger terminal near the speech venue and after urinating, I returned immediately. Usually at high altitudes with cold weather and reduced sweating, I suffer from frequent urination.

I gave them a warm speech. I expressed gratitude for their record of resistance against the counter-revolution and defense in the imposed war. With a magnificent send-off, we left the place. Before leaving, in the ruined restrooms beside the helicopter pad, I relieved myself again.

We flew toward Javanrud. The people's gathering in Javanrud was even more magnificent than Paveh and surprised me and my companions. As usual in all other cases, two children of martyrs gave bouquets and gave welcome speeches. A little girl gave a good recitation. I responded to the enthusiastic feelings of the people. After the anthem, poetry, and the welcome of the Friday prayer leader and the acting governor and the city's representative and the presentation of demands, I gave a detailed speech.

We immediately flew toward the site of the Gavoshan Dam in the north of Kamyaran. On the way, the governor and Mr. Zangeneh, the Minister of Energy, gave explanations. All the plains were fertile and there were rivers and springs of water. I admonished the governor to correct the winding course of the rivers. At the site of the Gavoshan Dam, the governor and the managers of Kurdistan Province had also come, because it is in Kurdistan's soil; although the water will be transferred to Kermanshah Province.

Prayer and lunch and rest were carried out. Then the minister and the water managers of the region gave reports and said that 11.5 billion cubic meters is the province's annual precipitation. They have ten large dams under study and construction. Here a dam with a height of one hundred and thirty meters, earthen, is being built to regulate three hundred million cubic meters of water of the Gavrud River, and a tunnel with a length of 17 kilometers that will transfer the water to Kermanshah Province. Currently this water goes to Iraq through the Sirvan. We visited the mouth of the tunnel under construction. They are waiting for the arrival of advanced German excavating machines.

We returned to Kermanshah. We landed beside the building and the four-hundred-bed hospital under construction. Many people had gathered. The Director General of Housing and Urban Development of the province gave a report. It is a huge hospital.

We went to the newly built technical engineering faculty of Kermanshah. We heard the reports. Then we went to Razi University, to the gathering of educators and academics. The Directors General of Education, Higher Education, and Medical Education gave reports and stated the demands. An anthem was performed. I gave the awards and gave a detailed speech.

We went to the newly built Shahid Ashrafi Faculty of Quranic Sciences. Mr. Mohammad Ashrafi Esfahani gave a report. We visited and I promised help. Up to here too, by my order, it has been built mainly from reconstruction credits.

A group of the managers of the reconstruction of the war zones came and gave a report on the work and I encouraged them. In the provincial administrative council, Mr. Gholamreza Sahrayian, the governor, spoke and gave a report on the work and presented the demands, and I too spoke. I promised help and explained the results of the First Five-Year Plan. Due to fatigue, we canceled the program to visit the War Works Museum.