Housing Maintenance And Utilities Board: “Wardens” Appeared In Nearly All Houses Of Minsk

The so-called “wardens” or “supervisors of the communal entrance hallways” have been elected in almost all houses which are on the balance sheet of Minsk city housing maintenance and utilities board.

The information on the appearance of “wardens” was revealed last week.

According to the head officials of Minsk city housing maintenance and utilities board, “wardens” will watch the order and “strengthen the friendship between the neighbours”, the Belarusian Partisan reports.

"The residents elect the wardens themselves. We conduct meetings of the residents in all the districts regularly, to discuss re-decorating of communal entrance hallways and other issues. This is the place where the wardens of the hallways and houses are elected,” — they told in Minsk city housing maintenance and utilities board.

According to the officials’ information, there are “wardens” in 14799 communal entrance hallways and 4396 houses in Minsk. Five thousand houses remain on the balance sheet of the organization, which means the “wardens” appeared almost everywhere.

“We haven’t come across such cases when nobody wanted to be a warden in a communal entrance hallway or house – this is in the interests of the citizens. Responsible people can always be found,”— representatives of Minsk city housing maintenance and utilities board claim.

The work of such “wardens” remains a volunteer activity. However, the communal organization informed that the winners of the contests for the best hallway or house would be rewarded by the district of city authorities.

“There is nothing new about this practice. There had been house management committees before… Or “elders”… Now there are “wardens”, and all this remains in the framework of the Law on local administration and self-administration,” — Minsk city housing maintenance and utilities board summarized.

However, despite the assurances of the communal organization, the news about appearance of supervisors in every house and hallway has become unexpected for many Minskers. It is also unknown why they decided to announce appearance of “wardens” in all the houses. Minsk city housing maintenance and utilities board’s representatives also found it hard to inform whose initiative it was to introduce such positions in Minsk.