“Demolish together with things and people inside”: Bukhara Region khokim orders staff to demolish illegal building in kindergarten without a trial

On June 12, a video was circulated in social networks, in which Bukhara region khokim Botir Zaripov instructs to demolish a building on the territory of a kindergarten without a court decision. The regional khokimiyat commented on the incident.

Bukhara Oblast Hokim Botir Zaripov ordered employees to demolish the building on the kindergarten grounds without a court decision “along with the things and people inside”.

Everyone who enters the territory of the garden – check them, pull up all legal documents. Those who don’t have any – without listening to anyone, demolish them without trial. Tear them down today – together with their belongings, together with the people inside, bury them,” he said.

The press service of the regional khokimiyat reported that on May 22, a working group led by the khokim went to familiarize with the progress of construction work in the state kindergarten No. 2 in Bukhara.

The institution, designed for 140 places, was built in 1961 and now it is in an emergency condition. Funds were allocated from the local budget and major repairs started in the kindergarten. During the inspection, the regional governor instructed the city authorities and responsible specialists to accelerate the pace of construction and complete it as soon as possible.

It also turned out that the territory of the kindergarten was not landscaped, and the owner of a nearby catering facility unauthorizedly opened an illegal passage to the kindergarten. In addition, a part of the territory of the kindergarten with a high-voltage transformer was not fenced with a protective grid, to which Botir Zaripov expressed his dissatisfaction.

The phrase “demolish” on the videotape referred specifically to an illegal passage opened without authorization on the territory of the kindergarten. The main goal of the regional governor was to ensure the safety of 140 kindergarten pupils and to prevent possible undesirable or illegal situations. Users of social networks interpret this phrase as the hokim’s instruction to demolish private kindergartens, which is not true,” the hokimiyat said.

It is also reported that in order to eliminate similar situations in other kindergartens of the region, the deputy khokim of Bukhara was reprimanded. The illegal passage was removed, and the process of studying the situation in kindergarten No. 2 was recorded on video and sent to the responsible persons, after which it was disseminated on the Internet.

The rule of law is ensured in the region, no illegal demolitions are carried out. In this case, the regional khokim had to express himself emotionally in order to increase the responsibility of some local leaders,” the khokimiyat said.

It should be reminded that a rumor about demolition of hundreds of thousands of houses was spread around Tashkent. The Ministry of Construction denied the information.