Poltava City Council says they will answer a request by journalists after the martial law is lifted
The Khmelnytsky media outlet ZHAR.INFO emailed inquiries to ten City Councils to learn about the implementation of an automated public transport payment system in Ukraine's populated areas. The request was sent to the Poltava City Council twice. To one of them the Council replied that they would provide the answers after the martial law is lifted.
The journalists informed the IMI representative in Khmelnytsky oblast, Alyona Bereza, of this.
The journalists have been sending requests in two rounds since early August. The transport and communications department of the Poltava City Council responded to the first request, albeit without providing the information in full. That is why the editors sent another request, asking to provide a clearly laid out list of information. In response they heard that the information cannot be provided due to the martial law. It will be provided after the martial law is lifted. The department explained that the data previously provided by them was sent due to the absence of a deputy mayor who deals with the transport sector.
The head of the department, Vitaliy Zhyvotenko, explained that there was no deputy mayor in charge of this segment at the time of the first request.
"I will explain why we wrote it like that. At the time when your request first arrived, we did not have a deputy mayor overseeinhg the work of executive bodies, the one who deals with our segment. As the head of the department, I am not authorized, I am not in charge of the documents, so I cannot provide them. Now we had a session, there was a session on September 15, a new leader was appointed, so there is no problem. If you don't mind, you can submit a new request, and we will, of course, coordinate everything with the boss," Zhyvotenko explained to ZHAR.INFO journalists.
The journalists also spoke with the executive who wrote the reply and with an employee of this City Council department.
"I prepared the reply according to what the management decided to list in the reply, they signed it and sent it," said executive Yuriy Khomenko.
At the same time, the secretary of the Poltava City Council, Kateryna Yamshchykova, informed the IMI representative in Poltava oblast, Nadia Kucher, that this matter would be overseen by a special deputy mayor, and the work of the department and its head would be handled by a task force.
"You know that the topic of public transport is problematic for us. We are creating a task force that deals with the work of this entire department, including the head," said Kateryna Yamshchykova.
ZHAR.INFO plans to submit a second request, and in the event of a refusal or an insufficient reply the journalists will file a complaint with the Human Rights Commissioner of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine.
Alyona Bereza, Nadia Kucher
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