On November 21, Liozno /Diana Kurilo - BELTA/. Chairman of the Committee for State Control Alexander Yakobson intends to find out why all residents of Liozno District who wished to do so could not get through to his direct telephone line. He announced this to journalists today after a direct telephone line session, as reported by a BELTA correspondent. The head of state control visited Liozno District and was interested in obtaining reliable information about the situation in the district. Alexander Yakobson admitted that his first impression of the direct telephone line was positive. The callers spoke about simple matters that concerned them and thanked the local authorities. "However, it turned out that these calls were regulated by local authorities. Only a quarter of the calls reached me, and this upset me greatly. I do not like such lack of candour. I came here to ascertain the objective situation and, together with the district executive committee, to see how the Committee for State Control could help, but it turned out to be an attempt to be disingenuous," stated the head of the control department with bitterness. According to him, there have been no similar cases in the practice of the Committee for State Control before. Alexander Yakobson has instructed the specialists of the Committee for State Control to investigate this fact, to inquire about the problems of all those who called the telephone line but whose calls did not reach him, and to help people solve their problems within the framework of the current legislation. Furthermore, the Committee for State Control intends to review the practice of receiving calls on direct telephone lines. In pursuance of the instructions of the President of Belarus, an interdepartmental working group, comprising representatives of the Committee for State Control, the Ministry of Housing and Communal Services, the Ministry of Architecture and Construction, and the Ministry of Emergency Situations, is conducting the second stage of monitoring the work of state bodies and organizations of Vitebsk Region in resolving the most pressing issues of concern to the population in November. Specialists of the interdepartmental group will hold mobile reception hours, direct telephone lines, and meetings with work collectives in Liozno, Ushachi, and Orsha districts. The range of issues and topics of interest to the interdepartmental working group is diverse: from issues of budget fund utilisation, financial and economic activities of industrial, agrarian, construction, housing and communal enterprises, and social sphere organisations, to the work of officials with citizens. -0-

BELTA