Solving people's problems should form the basis of district housing and communal services and trade development programs - A. Kosinets

February 25, Vitebsk / Diana Kurilo - BELTA /. The solution of problems that concern citizens should form the basis of regional programs for the development of housing and communal services, trade, and the social sphere. This was stated today at a meeting of the Vitebsk Regional Executive Committee by its chairman Alexander Kosinets, who proposed that the heads of district executive committees hold "direct lines" with citizens, BELTA correspondent reports. According to the governor, direct contact between the authorities and the population makes it possible to set priorities, identify pain points, and thereby solve issues of citizens' livelihoods, and avoid complaints and appeals to higher authorities. Practically half of the citizens' appeals received by the regional executive committee in 2009 contain issues of housing legal relations, with 62.8% of them concerning the work of housing and communal services. The citizens' appeals sharply raise issues of housing stock repair, water supply, landscaping, and sewage disposal. Often, people are dissatisfied with the quality of work and services of housing and communal services. In 2009, the number of citizens' appeals to the regional executive committee concerning trade and services increased by more than 1.5 times compared to 2008. They are dominated by complaints about the organization of trade in rural areas, facts of unauthorized trade in cities, and violations of consumer rights. In 2009, the regional executive committee received 3.8 thousand written and oral appeals from citizens, including 701 appeals from higher state bodies, which amounted to 120% and 76% of the previous year's level, respectively. -0-