In Irkutsk, a meeting of the Honorary Citizens club was held, dedicated to the 55th anniversary of the launch of the Irkutsk hydroelectric power plant. A documentary on its construction was shown.

The September meeting of the Club of Honorary Citizens of the city of Irkutsk was dedicated to an important event in the history of Irkutsk — the 55th anniversary of the commissioning of the Irkutsk Hydroelectric Power Station. The Mayor of Irkutsk, Viktor Kondrashov, and the direct participants in the construction of the hydroelectric power station were invited to the club meeting. At the beginning of the meeting, a 1957 documentary film, “Blocking the Angara,” about the construction of the station, was shown.
The participants in the construction shared their memories. Nikolai Antonovich Votyakov worked on a walking excavator and later built the Vilyuy Hydroelectric Power Station and the hydroelectric power station in the city of Neryungri. Alexey Egorovich Khokhlov worked at the Irkutsk Hydroelectric Power Station for 54 years, starting in 1956. Stanislav Petrovich Novozhilov was the station director from 1987 to 2002. Oleg Ivanovich Pankratov headed the station from 2002 to 2006.
The Mayor of Irkutsk, Viktor Kondrashov, thanked the Honorary Citizens of the city of Irkutsk for being the first in the regional center to hold a public event dedicated to such an important date as the 55th anniversary of the Irkutsk Hydroelectric Power Station. According to documents, the official “birth” date of the Irkutsk Hydroelectric Power Station is October 24, 1959. It was on this day that the State Commission chaired by M.N. Markelov accepted the Irkutsk Hydroelectric Power Station for permanent operation.
“The Irkutsk Hydroelectric Power Station is one of the symbols of our region and the city of Irkutsk. It is a heroic labor feat of thousands of Irkutsk residents. I bow before the generation that won the most terrible war and, just a few years later, found the strength to begin building the largest construction project of that time. The memories of the hydroelectric power station veterans, witnesses to those events, are priceless, and they must be preserved for future generations of Irkutsk residents. Modern Irkutsk, the younger generation of city residents, needs examples of courageous creative labor for the good of the motherland,” said the Irkutsk mayor.
Boris Govorin, Chairman of the Council of Honorary Citizens of the city of Irkutsk, spoke about the significance of the Irkutsk Hydroelectric Power Station for the development of Eastern Siberia. As an energy specialist by profession, Boris Alexandrovich emphasized the exceptional role of the hydroelectric power station in the formation of Irkutsk as a major city in the country. The Honorary Citizens of the city of Irkutsk expressed the wish that lessons dedicated to the 55th anniversary of the Irkutsk Hydroelectric Power Station be held in Irkutsk schools, and that a series of publications on this topic be released in the media. ​
Based on materials from the press service of the administration of the city of Irkutsk.