Chechen builders rally again demanding payment of salary debts

On January 23, the Chechen capital of Grozny hosted another protest action of the builders, who worked for Turkish Construction Companies "Penta" and "Bora Inshaat".

The organizers of the action had planned that a few hundred people would come out, but on January 23, in Akhmat Kadyrov Avenue, only about 50 persons gathered in front of the "Consumers' House". They demanded to solve the problem of many-month-long salary debts, which the workers addressed to Chechen officials.

According to Mikail Ezhiev, Chairman of the Human Rights Centre of the Chechen Republic, who earlier had contacted all the "bodies in charge", the authorities have promised to solve the debt problem in the near future. Umar Djumaliev, Deputy Ombudsman in Chechnya, also said earlier that "the government of the republic would solve the problem of wages in the near future."

However, according to one of the builders, who preferred to remain anonymous, these promises remain unfulfilled to this day. "Neither the government nor the construction department and the republic's leader have no interest in how we should live on. Many of those who took part in the rally have not found employment; their families have nothing to live on. The only people who went out to contact us were rights defenders, but it seems that they are unable to solve our problems," said the source of the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

At the same time, officials from the Ministry of Construction and Motorways of Chechen Local Authorities say that the situation with salary debts is purely an internal business of the companies. "All the funding commitments have been fully fulfilled by the republic's leadership and ministries. All the built objects have been paid for. Why the money has failed to reach the workers - is a question to company bosses," said a source from the Ministry.

"Blaming the bosses of Turkish companies of all the sins is not correct. Earlier, we never had problems with wages; but after we commissioned the 'Grozny-City' and some other objects suddenly it turned out that there was no more money. They're just cheating us," said a builder who worked for Turkish companies.