I just lack electricity to turn on the television because loneliness destroys me. I have no one, no one is turning, no one needs me, and I will live, I still have the will.
That's how the interview with the seventy-four-year-old "Vijesti" journalist ends Nikola Minjević, who has been living for years in a container placed opposite the former Brick Factory in Spuz.
Without electricity, without water, he spends days and nights alone in a few square meters. He says that it is most difficult for him in the summer when it burns, because the container cannot cool down. In winter, it is warmed by a burning stove. He brings water from Spuž or from the neighborhood.
A resident of Bjelopol, who moved to the town of Gradina back in 1963, says that he has been without a roof over his head for years.
He explains that in 1975 he got a job at the "Mermer" factory, and 11 years later he asked them for accommodation, because he had a spinal problem and it was too far for him to walk to Gradina.
"They gave me space here in this neighborhood, where there used to be a store. I renovated it and moved in with my wife and two children in 1986. Two years later, I went on a disability pension, and until 2003 I lived with my family in that apartment," says Minjević, explaining that he then separated from his wife and moved to the premises of the local community.
"There was no water or electricity when I moved in, they connected it to me later, after three months of being there. In August 2015, they told me that I had to move because of the reconstruction. I had nowhere to go. I tried to go back to the apartment, but my wife and son were not interested. My son, who lives in Nikšić, told me to go privately, I have nothing to do, I am 158% disabled and have a pension of XNUMX euros. I can't come to an agreement with the family, that's why it's better this way", he said and explained that it was then that he came up with the idea of asking the Association of Pensioners for a container.
"I asked for a container and the former minister of labor and social welfare gave it to me Zorica Kovačević. I took this out of necessity, but it practically suits me, it's not bad if I have the conditions. In the summer, I bathe outside, and in the winter, I spread out the nylon inside, put on a bathing suit and bathe. Old fashioned. Water is not a problem, as long as I have electricity... At least solar panels," he said. He explained that the container is on the land of the "Mermer" factory, that he asked them for permission to connect the electricity, but that they told him that the land was mortgaged and that they would not question him.
"I went to the Secretariat for Urban Planning three years ago. They told me to find another piece of land, but I don't know whose land it is... I asked them to look, there in Urbanism, but they told me to go to one office, then another, then a third. I didn't find anything. This is a temporary facility, I will be here as long as I can take care of myself, and when I can't I will go to the Home. I have one plot to transfer to them and with that I will pay for their stay in the home," he said.
Minjević tells how his day passes without electricity, water, the possibility to store food in the refrigerator...
"I have gas, I will prepare something for gas. But only lunch for lunch, I can't save any of the food. I heat with wood. I don't have any problem with heating, I just need electricity, at least solar panels to have at least one outlet. I eat in the Day Center, we have lunch there. That's why I'm grateful to them. That is a big plus," he said.
Minjević trusts in the Municipality of Danilovgrad
Minjević said that he asked the Municipality of Danilovgrad for help at least for solar panels that would provide him with at least one outlet, but he did not receive it.
“It's 350 euros. I thought that at least half of the payment would be paid by them, half by Socijalno," he said.
From the Municipality of Danilovgrad, however, they claim that Minjević turned to them for help twice on November 2, 2015 and January 20, 2017, and that they helped him both times.
For the first time, he was paid a one-time social assistance of 200 euros. The second request related to the connection of electricity and water to the ceded container:
"According to which he was granted one-time social assistance in the amount of 150,00 euros and it was paid in March 2017. Mr. Nikola Minjević, before the provision of housing containers by the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare, lived illegally in a building owned by the Property Administration, which was renovated and a Day Center for the Elderly was built in Spuz. Mr. Minjević has been a user of the Day Center since its opening (hot meal, socializing, outing)", said the Municipality.
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