Living conditions in hostels of the capital of Karachaevo-Circassia become worse

The hostel residents and human rights activists note that living conditions in the hostels of the city of Cherkessk are becoming worse and worse. Many of them have no heating, hot and cold water, the buildings fall into decay - no major repairs from the time of construction.

Antonina Lamshukova, representative in Karachaevo-Circassia of the all-Russian Social Movement "For Human Rights", in her conversation with the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent called the conditions in one of such hostels located in the very centre of Cherkessk, in Turgenevskaya Street, to be "bestial" or "swinish".

"The building has no gas and permanent water supply; the sewage does not work. The hostel is inhabited mainly by invalids; some years ago one of them committed suicide by falling out of the window, while those in power were dividing central ownership places. There's no heating for eight years already; I know for sure it was disconnect not because of non-payment, as more than 70 families showed me their payment receipts for all these years. I studied them; and on the basis thereof we filed a claim to the court," said Ms Lamshukova.

She has added that in the course of litigation it became clear that residents had paid their municipal bills not to the proprietors of the hostel, and then it was found out that there is no owner of the hostel at all. The house passed over from the mayoralty balance to "someone's hands", then, it was returned to the balance. And with the start of the federal programme for capital repairs of shabby housing, the number of the owners reached four - and none is a legal proprietor.

"You just look at this dirt and stink. What we do here, in this building, is done with our own hands and for our money, but for how long? Water is in the cellar for many years, the house can collapse any moment; it's dangerous to step on stairs - holes everywhere. We fear for our kids," said Zaur Dyshekov, a resident of the house.

Residents of another hostel, located at No. 3 Pyatigorsk Highway, believe that they are left for the fate's mercy, since the house is not in the centre, but in the suburb, and it doomed to remain ownerless.

"We've addressed everywhere, but received formal bureaucrats' replies in the best case; usually, they wouldn't even listen to us. We held a number of pickets, but with no results," said Tatiana Shastina, a resident there.