'We Have Salaries Of $60, They Come To Us, Threatening To Take Away Our Kids'

The heart cry of the villagers in the Vitsebsk region.

Rusty water, and even that they only have twice a week. Residents of the village of Verkhovye in the Beshankovichy district suffer from inaction of housing and communal services. In houses built in the 80s, there has never been a major overhaul - residential buildings are leaking, balconies can collapse at any time. The officials, instead of helping, intimidate the villagers and remind them of the need to pay utility bills, Belsat reports.

Moss-covered balconies, entrances that look as if they've come from horror movies. These are the conditions under which residents of houses number 29a and 29b in Savetskaya Street in the village of Verkhovye in the Beshankovichy district are forced to live. It's hard to believe, but the windows on the nails, installed by the housing and communal services this year in January, were replaced with the old ones with holes.

"They are made like this, and that's fine. What do you want? They plumbed in central heating in the communal entrance hallways. Imagine, the cracks are so big wind comes round the hall, and they heat it! And we are paying for this!", - says local resident Sviatlana Artsiukh.

People don't have enough normal drinking water

Meanwhile, this is not the most important problem yet. Not in the Sahara, not in Australia, but in the Belarusian village people do not have enough water. Rust is flowing from the faucets, and heating in general has become an unheard-of luxury.

"As soon as summer begins, we have hot water only twice a week - Friday and Saturday. From 4 to 10 pm. Well, it's not really hot. They heat it properly by 8. Well, there are only 2-3 hours of hot water left, "- resident of the village of Verkhovye Siarhei Kavaleuski says.

The villagers have long been trying to get the proper repair of the house and human attitude from the communal workers. Meanwhile, the officials of the Beshankovichi District Executive Committee have extremely skeptical attitude to these claims.

"And what should be changed? Will the citizens themselves be able to pay then? The systematic non-payers complained to you. Will they be able to pay if the water is supplied every day? They are periodic non-payers and debtors for communal services," - says Natallia Auchynnikava, head of the Housing and Communal Services Department of the Beshankovichi District.

The official added that the state had already built a separate boiler house for the residents of these houses. Obviously, according to the officials, it will be enough to wash twice a week for the people in summertime.

"We have a salary of 200-300 rubles, sometimes it's 120. We live in debt here, they come to us, demand, threaten to cut-off electricity, to take away our kids, frighten us with child protection services. They do not see what they owe us. They see only when we owe them, " - Sviatlana Artsiukh says with tears in her eyes.

Complaints about the condition of houses are added to the demand of Piotr Yanachkin. He is forced to move in a wheelchair due to disability. Piotr has been unsuccessfully trying to achieve restoration of the ramp at the entrance, broken by hooligans, and filling up the pits in the yard, for a year.

"It's unbearable! I'm a living human being so far, but I am longing for death! I'm tired of everything! ", Piotr Yanachkin complains.

It is noteworthy that one building stands out among the general desolation and dullness in Verkhovye - the rural council. To repair it, money was found in the budget.