People alarmed about Ramzan Kadyrov's decision to take away Grozny residents' houses

Ramzan Kadyrov has ordered the Grozny City Mayoralty to seize private houses looking like abandoned if owners do not agree to put them in order. Residents of Grozny are concerned over the officials' plans.

According to a story of the "Grozny" ChGTRK (Chechen State TV and Radio Company), shown on February 19 in the TV night news and posted on the TV Company's YouTube page, Ramzan Kadyrov drew attention to ownerless and abandoned private households during his meeting with Isa Khadjimuradov, Mayor of Grozny.

Ramzan Kadyrov instructed the Grozny City Mayoralty "to search for negligent homeowners in cooperation with the law enforcement bodies," the TV story reports. "And to initiate a seizure procedure in case if owners are not going to keep their property clean," authors of the TV story reported.

The officials' plans have caused concern among some citizens.

"In 2009, inspections were organized to identify ownerless land plots, and in 2013, the same inspections also took place. Then abandoned houses and land plots were seized, and many people just had to pay off officials or apply for new documents, also not for free. Now here's another oncoming inspection, and the result will be the same: people will just have to pay money," Lechi, an employee of a local NGO, voiced his concern to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on February 21, 2020 at 11:35 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.