Translated by Ollie Richardson & Angelina Siard

14:29:29
10/11/2018

strana.ua

In the town of Smela in the Cherkassky region in the evening of November 9th about 200 people came to a rally. In the city of 80,000 people there still isn’t any heating not only in houses, but also in hospitals, kindergartens, and schools.

Such a situation was created because of the multi-million debts of the former supplier of gas, the “Energoinvest” company.

Local activists from a tribune threatened to block all the roads that go through the city. On November 11th people will independently gather for a rally at 17:00. Also, the inhabitants of Smela are going to go to Kiev and picket the Cabinet of Ministers and “Naftogaz“.

The residents are outraged by the fact that in the city the tariff for heating is 86 hryvnia per sq.m, while in the neighboring cities it is twice less. And in Kiev, for example, the price is 31.52 hryvnia per square meter a month.

At the rally they demanded a response from local-level deputies. The protesters said that they are not able to contact the mayor by phone.

In turn “Strana” phoned the mayor Aleksey Tsibko, who reported that a problem with heating does exist, but all the companies that previously serviced the debt want to pin all debts on the city, and he insists on signing a contract directly with “Naftogaz”. He said the organisers of the rally are “populists”.

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