| Yuri Luzhkov demands to rid yards of anti-ice reagents Despite the ongoing frosts and snowfalls, spring seems to have arrived in the offices of the capital's mayor's office. In any case, at yesterday's meeting of the Moscow government, city authorities already summed up the heating and snow removal seasons. In general, the work of public utilities was considered satisfactory by Mayor Yuri Luzhkov - there were no major accidents in the city - so yesterday's meeting passed without criticism and loud resignations. Nevertheless, the mayor did not allow his subordinates to relax and set new mobilizing tasks for them.
After an incomprehensible report by the head of the fuel and energy department, Vsevolod Pleshivtsev, on such eternal topics for housing and communal services as repairing boiler houses, patching leaking roofs and constantly re-lining pipelines, Mr. Luzhkov still called for an analysis of the accumulated problems. According to the mayor, Moscow has already “eaten up all its energy reserves,” and if the large-scale creation of new energy networks and generating capacities on the basis of city-owned district thermal stations (RTS) is not started in the near future, then “the development of the capital will be stopped.”
Then the mayor reprimanded the head of the housing and communal services department for careless janitors. According to Mr. Luzhkov, over the winter the prosecutor's office identified 306 miscalculations in the work of public utility workers - from icicles hanging over the heads of passers-by to slippery stairs and sidewalks. The prefects got it for the appearance of unauthorized snow dumps in the city - despite the fact that the mayor admitted: 50 snow-melting chambers do not provide even a third of Moscow's needs. In their justification, the prefects said that the system created in the city is designed to remove 1 cm of snow per day, while during a snowfall in the capital up to 40 cm of precipitation falls. Utility workers are hampered from mechanizing street cleaning by incorrectly parked cars, which, after the ban on tow trucks, Muscovites again began to leave anywhere.
Yuri Luzhkov understood the hint from his subordinates, but instead of returning tow trucks to the streets, he instructed the utility workers, together with the Municipal Machines plant, to develop “different versions of equipment that allows removing snow in a limited space from under parked cars.” In addition, the mayor proposed to prohibit parking on the side of the street with even house numbers on even days and vice versa. “Then we will have the opportunity to quickly clean the streets at least once every two days,” said the mayor.
In conclusion, the mayor stunned his subordinates with a new idea, which will no doubt be greeted with enthusiasm by Muscovites. “We need to free yards from the use of de-icing agents,” Mr. Luzhkov set the task, explaining that the funds saved on the purchase of reagents could be used to encourage janitors and purchase small-scale mechanization equipment. However, utility workers, who do not always cope with cleaning courtyard areas even with the help of chemicals, met the mayor’s initiative with skepticism. According to their unanimous opinion, which was voiced a month ago by the head of the municipal services complex, Petr Aksenov, the problem of the negative impact of deicing agents on the shoes of citizens and the paws of dogs is clearly exaggerated. “The main thing is to ensure the safety of Muscovites, and not to organize a show over damaged shoes and dog paws,” said Mr. Aksenov. Therefore, Yuri Luzhkov decided to give his subordinates time and gradually abandon the use of reagents. “We need to work out all the mechanisms in the summer in order to be ready for next winter,” said the mayor. Alexander GUDKOV |
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