Almost 60% of Vinnytsia residents give an unsatisfactory rating to the work of Vinnytsia's utilities in winter. But, apparently, instead of drawing appropriate conclusions, the city authorities decided to blame the respondents to the survey for the poor street cleaning in what was once one of the best regional centers. This can be clearly seen on the example of the municipal enterprise "Municipal Guard", UNN writes.
The municipal enterprise was created in 2013, not least on the initiative of the then mayor of Vinnytsia, Volodymyr Groysman, and was then called the municipal police.
One of the key tasks of the Municipal Guard is to control the improvement of the city's territory.
Keeping the streets clean is one of the main functions of the respective utility companies. So, logically, the Municipal Guard should be able to control its colleagues.
But, judging by the official reports of the "varta", the city authorities decided to shift the responsibility for the cleanliness of Vinnytsia's streets to the citizens themselves. At least, the municipal enterprise for the control of landscaping draws up orders and administrative protocols against them. It mainly goes to the heads of condominiums and small entrepreneurs.
In general, since its inception, the activities of the Municipal Guard have raised many questions and complaints. In 2018, the Ministry of Internal Affairs even checked the licensing conditions of this structure. But it ended with a change of signage: The municipal police was first transformed into the Municipal Law Enforcement Service, and later received its current name, Municipal Guard.
In 2019, the Anti-Pomona Committee became interested in the activities of the Municipal Guard in Vinnytsia. There were also questions about the allocation of more than 40 million hryvnias from the city budget in 2018-19 for the activities of this municipal enterprise.
In 2017, the Vinnytsia Municipal Police made headlines all over Ukraine when they fined an ordinary grandmother selling apples on the street for 11,000 hryvnias.
In November 2023, law enforcement officers detained two employees of the Municipal Guard and a deputy of the Vinnytsia District Council from the banned OPFL party.
According to the Vinnytsia regional SBU office, all three were engaged in racketeering among entrepreneurs under the leadership of their leader, a local criminal boss.
During the robbery, they extorted money from the victims as a regular "tribute" and threatened them with violence and destruction of private and corporate property if they refused.
SBU officers documented the fact of extortion of USD 9 thousand of non-existent debt from the head of an agricultural company.
The racketeers threatened the man and his family with physical violence and the destruction of the company's agricultural machinery if he did not agree to pay the "debt".
SBU officers detained all the gang members at their places of residence in the regional center.
During the searches of the detained deputy's apartment, firearms and ammunition were seized. His accomplices were found to be in possession of cash and draft records of "debtors".
Interestingly, the court initially sent the two detained "guards" to a pre-trial detention center without the right to be released on bail. But after some time, the pre-trial restraint was mitigated and they were released under round-the-clock house arrest.
Despite this tip of the iceberg of unpleasant facts, Groysman's successor as mayor of Vinnytsia and his loyal ally, Serhiy Morgunov, continues to pretend that he is satisfied with the activities of the Municipal Guard.
Therefore, it is not surprising that the local media periodically refer to the employees of this structure as Morgunov's "aunts"..