Elektroprivreda (EPCG) collected the debt from the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare (MRSS) for the electricity used in the buildings in Ulica espanskih boraca bb, in the Konik neighborhood of Podgorica, but some of them still live without electricity.
"For about a year and a half," says the president of the Association of Roma and Egyptians from Kosovo Ganija Pajazitaj.
The Center for Civil Liberties (CEGAS) said that "it is not the debt payment that is disputed, but the attitude towards that population".
"Debts, among other things, would not have accumulated if the residents of the camp had regularly received electricity bills, and if EPCG had recognized them as lessees and meter owners, in order to sign a contract to pay their debts. Roma and Egyptians are completely marginalized in this case," she told "Vijesta" Marija Popović Kalezić, executive director of CEGAS.
219 apartments in the Street of Spanish Warriors in the Konik neighborhood were built by the Ministry of Social Affairs and the Capital City of Podgorica.
The apartments are a solution of the Department of Labor and Social Welfare, which he headed at the time Kemal Purišić, to be used by displaced persons from Kosovo.
They signed lease contracts with the capital city, i.e. the Housing Agency doo Podgorica, and it is still the same today. According to the contract, the apartments are the property of the Capital City, but the electric meters are kept at MRSS.
According to the company, Elektroprivreda was not even informed about the fact that the apartments became the property of the Capital City.
"And what was the obligation of the Ministry, as a legal entity with which EPCG has concluded supply contracts", they stated in the answer they submitted to CEGAS, which "Vijesti" had access to.
That issue became problematic after in 2022, in Elektroprivreda, they saw that 80 percent of 219 apartments were not paying their electricity bills.
"At the beginning of 2022, bearing in mind that these are socially vulnerable categories, EPCG organized a meeting with all the mentioned institutions, where the omissions of the new and old owners were pointed out, while providing a very fair deadline, within which the institutions would be indicated, in coordination with end users, made payments. This was necessary in order to change the name to the new owner, the Capital, and then, temporarily, to the end users. Everyone agreed and assumed their obligations," said Elektroprivreda.
They add that for more than 18 months, neither the Ministry nor the Capital have done "nothing at all", that no request for a name change has been submitted.
"And the debt of most users only increased. Not a single request for a name change was submitted even for those customers from the mentioned 219, who regularly pay their obligations, and who could do so at any time. The public advertisement dated August 1, 8, which includes users to whom a warning cannot be delivered, includes over 2022 listed customers," EPCG said.
About twenty days later, on August 23, those users were disconnected from the network, and their electricity debt ranged from 200 to 2.900 euros.
EPCG also clarified that this company has a contractual relationship with MRSS and that only the Ministry recognizes it as a buyer of the apartments in Ulica espanskih boraca bb.
"Each individual customer whose owner is registered as MRSS, and whose electricity supply has been interrupted, must pay off his debt in full, after which the Capital City must submit individual requests to change the user's name. After that, and at the request of the tenants of the apartments, they can be temporarily registered as buyers...", said the company and added that immediately after paying the debt and the connection fee, all those apartments will be connected.
Marija Popović Kalezić from CEGAS questions the fact that the disconnection occurred during the coronavirus epidemic.
"During the corona era, we allowed the ghettoization and disconnection of the electricity supply of Roma and Egyptians in the Konik camp, where for some it may have had the most tragic consequences. The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, as well as the Capital City, did not deprive them of legal administrative barriers, where at the moment of the transfer of ownership of the apartments in which they live, the meters were not transferred from the Ministry to the Capital City, because as it was said - the debts existed even then, and those beneficiaries apartments that had no debt, were not legally able to initiate the transfer. In addition to the assistants that the apartment users, Roma and Egyptians had, the accumulation of debts and unresolved situations were allowed," she said.
She added that the payment of the debt is not disputed, but the attitude towards that population. She said that the debts could not have accumulated if the residents of the camp had regularly received electricity bills, and if Elektroprivreda had recognized them as the owners of the meters, so that they could sign the contracts and pay the debts themselves.
"Roma and Egyptians in this case, not only are not positively discriminated against, but are completely marginalized. This problem is being solved from 2021, as some believe that the old owner should have initiated the change of ownership of the meters, while others claim the opposite, and during all that time those who regularly pay their obligations could not exercise their legal right," said Popović Kalezić.
The Capital City, i.e. the Housing Agency, along with the specified chronology of events, told "Vijesta" that at the time when the first meetings of representatives of EPCG, MRSS, the Secretariat for Social Welfare and the Agency were held, they were also attended by representatives of the users themselves.
Ganija Pajazitaj told "Vijesti" that no one called them, even when he himself asked to be at those meetings.
The Capital City also said that the ownership of meters and facilities "could not in any way affect the scope of the rights of users of residential units in the context of the Energy Act".
"During this entire period, users were able to exercise both the right to subsidies and the right not to have their electricity supply interrupted from October to the end of April, despite their debts," they told "Vijesti".
In the answer they submitted on February 15, they also stated that on that day, out of a total of 219 housing units given for use, 25 were disconnected from the electricity network due to debt, and that the conditions for reconnection to the network were met for five of them.
"The conditions for the reconnection of a large number of users were obtained due to the fact that EPCG carried out a forced collection procedure against the debtor, in this case MRSS, and collected its claims," said the capital city.
They added that the conditions have been met for some of the meters to be transferred to the capital, "due to the fact that they are free of debt at the moment".
"Vijesti" also sent questions to the Ministry of Human and Minority Rights regarding the situation in the apartments in the Street of Spanish Fighters.
"We are familiar with the situation. We are aware that the MRSS has already initiated a meeting on Friday, February 9, 2024 with the Capital City of Podgorica and CEDIS regarding this case, where the stated problem was discussed in detail and a concrete solution was sought", they stated in the answer.
MRSS did not respond to "Vijesti" questions.
Marija Popović Kalezić said that the departments they now lead Naida Nišić i Fatmir Gjeka, they must show sensitivity to positive discrimination when it comes to these citizens.
"In order to finally achieve results in Fundamental Rights, crucial for Chapter 23...", she said.
She pointed to one of the principles of the Strategy for the Social Inclusion of Roma and Egyptians for the period 2021-2025, which refers to the participation and involvement of all interested parties in the process of implementing the relevant public policy.
"There is a special emphasis on the participation of representatives of Roma and Egyptian civil society. Analogously, we wonder which of the representatives of this population, which is in trouble, attended the meetings of Elektroprivreda, MRSS and the Capital City", said Popović Kalezić.
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