In Sochi, public employees instructed to remove snow during weekend

In Sochi, staff members of schools and heads of the territorial public self-administrations have expressed their dissatisfaction with the fact that the Sochi Mayoralty instructed them to use their day-off to remove snow from the streets for free.

This morning, the chairpersons of all 58 territorial public self-administrations (known as TOCs) have received the instructions from the Sochi Mayoralty to go to the streets to remove snow fallen in the night. This was told to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent by Natalia Kalinovskaya, Chair of the TOC "Psou", a member of the Public Ecological Council of Sochi. The instruction was disseminated by SMS-messages. "Good morning! The Mayor asked to raise the people to remove snow from sidewalks. Sprinkle roads with salt, where possible. Do not touch trees. Thank you for understanding!" said the SMS-message.

"We get such requests all the time," said Natalia Kalinovskaya. And she continued: "However, I have a question: where are utilities services, to which tenders allocate considerable amounts of the budgetary fund for these works? And where is the money? Why ordinary people, not engaged in utilities services, should use their weekend to do their works for free?"

Today, staff members of the secondary school No. 24 have also got the instruction to take part in the removal of snow. This was told to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent by a school janitress who preferred to remain anonymous.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.