Investigative Committee of Russia: the deputy head of the city was detained in the case of a heat outage in Podolsk
In the Moscow region, three people were detained after a massive power outage in houses. One of them is the deputy head of the administration of Podolsk, said Olga Vradiy, a representative of the Moscow region department of the Investigative Committee of Russia (ICR).
The high-ranking official is suspected of knowing about the defects and the need to check the heating equipment and, despite this, issued a readiness certificate to Klimovsky Specialized Cartridge Plant CJSC, which led to the accident. The official is being investigated in a criminal case for exceeding official powers causing grave consequences (clause “c” of Part 3 of Article 286 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). He faces up to ten years in prison.
Also, as part of a criminal investigation into the provision of services that do not meet the requirements for the safety of life and health of consumers (Part 1 of Article 238 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), investigators detained the head of the boiler house and the general director of Klimovsky Specialized Cartridge Plant CJSC.
To date, searches and seizures have been carried out in the premises and workplaces of the detainees, and interrogations are ongoing.
Currently, investigators are establishing the causes and circumstances that led to the accident on the heating main.
A breakthrough in heating mains in Podolsk occurred on January 4 in 20-degree frosts
According to investigators, on January 4, a breakdown of heating mains occurred in the city due to improper operation of the boiler room by employees. As a result, residents of the Klimovsk microdistrict were left without heat supply and hot water. Against this background, a local emergency regime was introduced in Podolsk. The head of the city district, Grigory Artamonov, said that emergency teams of specialists were called in to eliminate the accident, but due to 20-degree frosts, the system froze, and new breaks appeared on the main line and in houses during startups.
Photo: Valery Sharifulin / TASS
The prosecutor's office became interested in the problem of providing electricity, heat and water supply in Podolsk. A check was launched on the implementation of housing legislation in the provision of public services.
Vice-Governor of the Moscow Region Evgeny Khromushin said that utility workers tried to hide the scale of the emergency with heating supply in Podolsk from the regional authorities; officials received feedback through social networks and citizens’ complaints. “According to preliminary data, there was a power outage here, and this was followed by a water hammer. But the problem turned out to be that the situation was hidden,” he noted. Later, the chairman of the Investigative Committee of Russia, Alexander Bastrykin, took control of the situation with limited heat supply in the Moscow region.
Putin was reported about the accident in Podolsk
Russian President Vladimir Putin became aware of problems with heat supply shutdowns in the Moscow region and other regions. About it told press secretary of the Russian leader Dmitry Peskov. According to him, to restore heat supply to the affected buildings, all services are working day and night.
Over the past 10-20 years, a huge amount of work has been done to update the housing and communal services infrastructure: pipes, mainly, boiler rooms, and so on. But even in two decades it is impossible to update everything. This is despite the fact that, you know, we have strong restrictions on tariff growth
The Kremlin official stressed that this is why such accidents can occur during abnormally cold weather.
Photo: Anatoly Zhdanov / Kommersant
Already on January 8, the President heard report by the Governor of the Moscow Region Andrei Vorobyov on the situation in areas affected by the lack of heat supply. As the Kremlin reported, based on the results of the report, the head of state gave instructions to the head of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, Alexander Kurenkov, and the Rosseti company to take all measures to ensure energy supply.
Heat supply to some damaged houses is still being restored.
After the accident, the authorities of the Moscow region promised to recalculate heating costs and stated that they expected to resume heat supply in the Klimovsk microdistrict by the morning of January 7. They promised to restore heat supply to “the main part of houses” by Christmas, but by the specified date heat was supplied to only 45 residential buildings. In total, 170 houses were left without heating due to the accident.
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By the morning of January 8, the heat supply was restored in half of the apartment buildings in the microdistrict. It was noted that in addition to residential buildings, eight socially significant facilities were also shut down.
That evening TASS with reference to the press service of the governor and the government of the Moscow region, he clarified that the houses in the Klimovsk microdistrict that suffered from an accident in the boiler room will be connected to heating by the morning of Tuesday, January 9. In the evening, specialists will start running apartment risers to begin supplying heat to apartments.
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