From the eyes of the people

Prefectural officials got it for their inability to quickly deal with complaints from Muscovites

Despite the fact that residents of the capital will not elect a mayor and information has already appeared that Yuri Luzhkov intends to enlist the president’s support ahead of schedule in order to remain at the head of Moscow for another term, the mayor clearly does not want to lose his loyal electorate. Yesterday, at a meeting of the capital's government, where the authorities' work with citizens' appeals was discussed, Mr. Luzhkov complained that all his efforts in resolving social issues were being nullified by the red tape of prefectural officials who were unable to quickly solve the current problems of Muscovites. “Any politics and economics do not affect the authority of the authorities in the eyes of citizens as much as flaws and miscalculations that cause inconvenience to Muscovites in everyday life,” the mayor believes.

The officials got it mainly for their inability to quickly respond to complaints regarding the state of the city’s housing and communal services . Of the 60 thousand last year's appeals from Muscovites to the government, to the mayor's personal pager and to the city's reference and information service, housing services accounted for 26.4%, according to the head of the State Housing Inspectorate of the capital, Alexander Strazhnikov. The main indignation of townspeople (56.3% of complaints) is caused by the chronic malfunction of elevators; 32.2% of complainants reported roof leaks and non-prompt repair. In addition, city residents often make complaints about the lack of heat in their apartments, poor heating of hot water and shutdowns of water supply without objective reasons.

According to Mr. Strazhnikov, this gives grounds to recognize the work of all heads of executive authorities in the districts as “not meeting the needs of citizens in providing high-quality and timely services.” In particular, 52% of all calls to the “hotline” of the Moscow Housing Inspectorate, according to him, contained complaints from Muscovites that their calls for help to the organizations operating and managing apartment buildings and dispatch services remained unheard. And Muscovites, in search of help, move up the chain of command, reaching the Moscow government. As a result, almost 40% of complaints received by city ministers, the head of the Moscow Housing Inspectorate concludes, are not within the competence of the capital government, but are the direct responsibility of district services and organizations.

Valery Skobinov, deputy chairman of the Moscow City Duma commission on urban services and housing policy, said yesterday that citizens’ requests are simply “chattered around” between the branches of government. Noting that “by how local authorities react to their appeals, people judge the work of city authorities as a whole,” the deputy reminded officials of the need not only to eliminate the mistakes of public utilities, but also to inform complainants about the results of the work done. According to Mr. Skobinov, the city law on citizens' appeals, in force since June 1997, should be supplemented with measures that will allow citizens to directly participate in the consideration of complaints, will prevent the prosecution of people for criticizing officials and will provide for the liability of officials for unfair consideration of petitions.

The energetic, but at the same time completely unaddressed criticism of the prefectural bureaucracy, sounded from the lips of Mr. Strazhnikov, however, caused some irritation among the mayor. Despite the fact that the head of the Moscow Housing Inspectorate particularly singled out the administration of the Central Administrative District, where the average number of complaints per resident and the number of repeated complaints exceeds similar data in other districts, Mr. Luzhkov did not like the absence of names in the report. “The inspectorate should not be afraid to speak the truth to those who deserve appropriate assessments,” said the mayor.

As a result of the discussion, it was decided to recognize the very fact of citizens’ appeals to officials as “positive” - since this shows the existence of the very possibility of feedback from the electorate. However, at the same time, Yuri Luzhkov also demanded an analysis of the reasons for so many complaints. “Our task is to quickly, systematically and competently respond to the requests of citizens,” the mayor recalled, “and this will be facilitated, in particular, by timely prevention of emergency situations.” According to Mr. Luzhkov, districts and the city government should allocate more funds from the budget for capital repairs of the housing stock and significantly increase its volume. The Moscow mayor could not resist reproaching federal officials, namely the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation, for the fact that the center is “squeezing” funds for the overhaul of former departmental housing, which was transferred to the balance of Moscow in the early 90s.

Yulia KHOMCHENKO