Moldovan acting premier pays unexpected visit to Chisinau-based asylum seekers' accommodation centre

Chisinau, 12 January /MOLDPRES/ - Acting Prime Minister Gheorghe Brega, accompanied by acting Interior Minister Oleg Balan, today paid an unexpected visit to the Asylum Seekers' Accommodation Centre. The visit took place after journalists had informed that the institution was not heated appropriately and the refugees, 15 in all, were suffering from cold, the government's communication and media relations department has reported.

A refugee woman, who has four children, told the prime minister that there was no hot water, and the temperature was low in rooms.

Olga Poalelungi, the head of the Migration and Asylum Bureau at the Interior Ministry (MAI), which managers the concerned Centre, explained the situation by the fact that, because of the lack of money, works of technical prophylaxis of the boilers providing the institution with heating and hot water had not been carried out. Poalelungi specified that the boilers were presently running at a low capacity, to be able to ensure functionality of the entire system. At the same time, she also said that the refugees had been provided with electric stoves and eiderdowns, until the problems are settled in the heating system, given that 150,000 lei would be needed for this.

Gheorghe Brega demanded that the leadership of MAI, as well as of the Bureau undertake all needed measures in a two-day period, so that the Centre's beneficiaries enjoyed better living conditions. The acting prime minister is to be informed about the settlement of the concerned problem.

(Editor A. Raileanu)