Chechen residents criticize operational headquarters to combat coronavirus

Residents of Chechnya complain to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent about the impossibility to get through phones of the "hotline" of the operational headquarters, engaged in solving all issues related to current restrictions imposed because of the spread of the coronavirus infection.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on April 27, Ramzan Kadyrov announced a step-by-step lifting of restrictions in Chechnya, but on April 29, he ordered to tighten control over citizens' movement due to violations of self-isolation regime.

"We have a sick mother, and she needs to regularly take medicines which are not available at a local pharmacy. To purchase the necessary medicines, you should visit a pharmacy in the centre of [Grozny]. For the whole family, we have got only one permit to leave home. Two hours that are indicated in the permit to leave home are not enough to go to the city centre and back, even with a large desire, because you may not use your own car. Only taxis work, and they don't take anyone without a permit. At our place, officials cannot decide anything, they told us to contact the operational headquarters, but their 'hotline' does not answer. I have never been able to contact the operational headquarters' 'hotline' by phone. The number is either constantly busy or simply no one picks up the phone," said Lisa, a resident of Grozny.

Khadishat, another woman from Grozny, said that she managed to contact and talk to the staff of the operational headquarters, but they did not solve her problem. "A wife of our son is in her last month of pregnancy, and she needs to be examined by a doctor from time to time. Now this has become a serious problem, because only a husband has got a permit to leave home. We appealed to the district administration for another permit, but they refused. They say that a family can get only one permit to leave home. And they advised us to contact the operational headquarters," said the resident of Grozny.

According to the woman, at the operational headquarters, "one official says one thing, while another official says completely different thing." "At the headquarters, they have not solved our problem yet," Khadishat complained.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on May 12, 2020 at 12:40 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.