In a brief interview in Alchevsk, Victor Yushchenko said the local authorities and municipal services should learn from last week’s accident, the President's press office reported.
“The local authorities are dull,” he exclaimed.
The President added that they were not working, and the Emergency Ministry was trying to cope with the disaster alone.
Yushchenkothanked central government for immediately responding to the crisis and assured reporters that specialists from all over Ukraine had arrived in Alchevsk to restore heating supplies to homes in a few days.
“The guilt of the local officials, who allowed the accident to happen, should be investigated,” he said.
The Head of State then urged all residents to adequately elect their mayors and actively control their work. He claimed that he regularly received complaints about municipal services.
“I want to ask you: doesn’t that happen before your eyes? Can’t you be active?” he said.
Yushchenko believes the accident in Alchevsk will make the government revise each principle of the municipal economy.
“Today we must introduce fundamental and profound municipal reforms,” he said and added that one of the features of this reform is competition among service providers.
