Zverevo residents begin series of pickets against high utility tariffs

About 50 residents of the city of Zverevo, Rostov Region have launched a series of everyday pickets with the aim to draw the authorities' attention to the problem of excessive tariffs on housing and communal services, first of all, on centralized heating.

"People are primarily concerned about why they still have to pay under the so-called 'coal rate', although the boiler house has long switched into gas. As a result, people have to pay under inflated rates," said Valery Diakonov, a member of the picket and a Deputy of the Zverevo City Duma. According to his story, the picket was visited by two delegates from the city administration.

"At the October 25 session of the City Duma, I put the picket issue on the agenda and told the Mayor, who was also there, that he was guilty of the fact that people went out into the streets, as he had earlier refused to meet the initiative group of citizens on the issues of tariffs on heating," said Diakonov.

As he explained, "the Mayor answered that the picket was not crowded – only 24 people were present," which, according to the Deputy, was not true. "I turned to the Mayor with a demand to meet the public, but he gently refused," Valery Diakonov has concluded.

It is planned to hold pickets every day, except weekends, for two months in a row.