17 October, Vitebsk /Diana Kurilo - BELTA/. Work with citizens' appeals should become one of the main criteria for evaluating the performance of managers. This point of view was expressed to journalists by the Aide to the President of the Republic of Belarus - Chief Inspector for Vitebsk Region, Nikolai Domashkevich, after a direct telephone line with residents of the region, according to a BELTA correspondent. During the direct telephone line, which lasted three hours, the President's Aide received 40 calls. Most of them concerned the work of housing and communal services, road construction, and housing construction. "These are issues of people's livelihoods, but it is alarming that they are not being resolved by district and city authorities. It gives the impression that local authorities only delve into people's problems after they have appealed to higher authorities," stated Nikolai Domashkevich. In his opinion, the Vitebsk Regional Executive Committee needs to thoroughly study the state of work with citizens' appeals in district and city executive committees, and city administrations. Another drawback in the work of the local vertical, Nikolai Domashkevich sees in the non-fulfillment of instructions given in response to lawful demands of citizens. "Despite the fact that there are not many such cases, not all services approach the fulfillment of these instructions conscientiously," he added. Summing up the direct telephone line, the President's Aide noted that the number of citizens' appeals to him has decreased by 28% recently. "This is gratifying. It means that the workload is shifting to those who are directly responsible for resolving people's problems. And although these processes are not as fast as one would like, they are noticeable," believes Nikolai Domashkevich. He intends to recommend that the Vitebsk Regional Executive Committee consider work with citizens as one of the main criteria for evaluating a manager's performance. -0-

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