Zverevo residents hold picket demanding to revise utility rates

Residents of the city of Zverevo of Rostov Region, who held today a regular picket near the building of the city administration, complain that Mayor Alexander Chumakov refuses to start a dialogue and to listen to the protesters' demands. Officials from the city administration state that they are ready to participate in a constructive dialogue and they treat the today's picket as a "little provocation".

Let us remind you that the residents of Zverevo claim that their demands voiced at previous pickets against excessive utility rates have not been fulfilled and the results of the audit promised by the Ministry of Housing of the Rostov Region are still unavailable.

"We have already stated that many rates are excessively high; however, they have not yet been revised. We do not want to live in such despair and lawlessness, when you can wake up in the morning and face a new utility rate introduced, according to which you will have to pay 130 roubles per cubic meter of water. At the same time, officials announce that pensions will increase by 7 per cent, and, for my pension, I will gain an increase of no more than 50 roubles," told Nikolai Chekmarev, the organizer of the picket against excessive utility rates, the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent and added that the Mayor did not want to meet with the protestors.

"During our picket, a power representative came out to us; he brought some reports which failed to contain answers to our questions. The Mayor himself does not want to negotiate - perhaps, our opinion is not important for him," believes Nikolai Chekmarev.

Yuri Bykov, another participant of the picket in Zverevo, stated that city residents were indignant. "We demand to revise rates for heating, water, electricity, rate for garbage disposal," said the picket.

According to his story, the representative of the city administration came out to the protestors; he "kept saying that the officials were working." "However, as we see, their work brings no results. I believe we will still have to go to Rostov for a picket," stated Yuri Bykov.

The officials from the Zverevo city administration told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that the picketers used their democratic rights and went in the streets.

"Nobody interfered. The authorities have responded to their demands: the picket was attended by the representative of the administration, who wrote all the demands. With regard to their demands to revise utility rates, the residents of the city themselves, and not the administration, appealed to the Ministry of Housing to request an audit. Therefore, we received no answer; the residents should receive the answer. We don not know where the letter is and who has received it. At present, the administration officials consider the issue to get a copy of the answer of the Ministry of Housing," stated Igor Dolgolevich, the head of the department on cooperation with the administrative agencies of the Zverevo administration.

According to his story, the Mayor of Zverevo is ready to answer specific questions of the city residents. "The Mayor of the city is ready to participate in a constructive dialogue and not in this little provocation staged by the picketers. For example, a city resident repeatedly appeals to us and claims that he has counted the rates himself and found out that they had been overpriced. We suggest him to apply to court to find out who right is. However, the picketers do not appeal to the court, since they only want to publicly advertise themselves and nothing else," concluded Igor Dolgolevich.