Chechens staying in republic can't seek compensation for destroyed home

Timur Aliyev, North Caucasus -- The Russian legislation does not allow the inhabitants of Chechnya whose home was destroyed during military operations to seek compensation for damage to their property, said Ruslan Akhmadov, deputy chairman of the Moscow-backed Chechen government's commission for construction and reconstruction work.

"At present there is no federal law on providing assistance or compensation for a lost house and property of the citizens of the republic who live in Chechnya or are returning there," he said.

According to Akhmadov, now it is only being assumed that the owners of completely destroyed houses will be granted either compensation or provided with a prefabricated house. At the same time, the destroyed houses themselves will not be reconstructed, Akhmadov noted.

This applies to those inhabitants of Chechnya who were affected during the second war, said Viskhan Baisangurov from the migration service. "The inhabitants of the Chechen Republic who have left the republic and were granted a residence permit in any of the Russian regions, have been receiving compensations for the house and property left in Chechnya as well as subsidies for building a new house," he said. However, these compensations are paid by the migration services of the respective regions of Russia, Baisangurov said.

"The money released from the federal programme for Chechnya has so far been used for reconstruction only," said Malika Mamedova, the head of the construction department of the Grozny municipality.

According to a regulation of the state-run construction company Gosstroi Rossii, it is necessary to primarily reconstruct buildings, both private and public ones, where the level of damage stands between 40-60 per cent, Mamedova elaborated.

"The reconstruction of a damaged house or flat is possible only if there is a sufficient number of inhabitants and functional infrastructure (gas, water, electricity) in the given village," Mamedova concluded.

Gosstroi Rossii experts estimate that about 80 per cent of housing in the Chechen capital has been destroyed. Last year the company allocated for the reconstruction of private houses and flats 190 million roubles from the federal programme.