In Gukovo, miners claim shortage of coal for heating season

Today, in Gukovo, in front of the office of the bankrupt "Kingcoal" company, activists have held another action of a series of planned pickets, at which about 100 former workers of the company demanded to pay them 300 million roubles of wage arrears and give them 7000 tonnes of coal allowance for 2014-2016, the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent reports.

"Starting from October 10, payments are stopped, while the amount of about 19.5 million roubles has been paid. No more payments have been made," the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was told by Dmitry Kovalenko, one of the coordinators of the miners' protests.

Meanwhile, on October 26-28, in Gukovo, according to the agreement between the Ministry of Fuel and Energy for the Rostov Region and the administration of the mine "Obukhovskaya", 200 tonnes of coal were brought as humanitarian aid to the miners.

"However, during the heating season, a household usually consumes 1.5-3 tons of coal. You can calculate by yourself how many people can be heated by this coal!" noted Dmitry Kovalenko.

The coordinator has also noted that at the meetings with the miners, Minister Tikhonov has promised to give them 1000 tonnes of coal allowance up to October 15.

According to the coordinator, many of the protesters still live in buildings constructed in 1950s and heated by ovens, and they are short of money to purchase coal instead of delayed coal allowance.

The miners have to break the law and collect firewood in forest to heat their houses. According to Dmitry Kovalenko, several miners have already been caught and obliged to pay fines in the amount of 5000 roubles.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.