In Uzhgorod, rats have swarmed the city center (PHOTO)

The owner of the dental clinic "Natadent" Illya Kovalev wrote to Uzhgorod.in that his employees and clients are terrified by the huge number of rats that occupied the area near the "Green market".

These dangerous rodents get to the courtyard, where a neighboring facility – the TC "Luxor Plaza" – put garbage cans.

"Our neighbors (TC "Luxor Plaza") have made a dump in the yard. They have put garbage cans there, and the garbage would stay there for a week. Then, they would take it out through the passage leading to the clinic. That’s when the conflict arose. Because, there were leftovers everywhere, and, naturally, they attracted rats. To protect the clients and the staff of the clinic, we welded the gate shut and restricted access to the garbage cans through our passage, – Illya Kovalev says. – But now the situation is critical. In the spring, their (rats’ – Ed.) population even increased. Gates do not help anymore. Rats will soon be running on roofs. The proximity to the market played no less important role in this. At night, the market is swarmed with them. This could lead to unprecedented consequences," – the businessman says.

In turn, Illya Kovalev suggests, first, to take those cans out of the courtyard, and second, to perform deratization. 

Officials of the City Hall say that they conduct deratization twice a year, especially in areas where there are large concentrations of people. However, since the courtyard between the market, the shopping center and the clinic is a joint private property, it is the responsibility of the entrepreneurs. Officials of Uzhgorod City Council assured that the only thing they can do is to fine the owners and oblige them to fix the problem, but only if they receive a written complaint of townspeople supported by evidence. 

Illya Kovalev argues that the courtyard, where the garbage cans are located, is not a joint property. It is the territory of the shopping center. And the common yard is the passage, the access to which was restricted because of garbage and rats. So by the logic of the officials, it is the owners of the shopping center who have to deal with garbage and rats.

Representatives of Uzhgorod Sanitary & Epidemiological Service told Uzhgorod.in that they can not influence the situation. "We have contracts for disinfestation only with the markets. We do it once a month, sometimes more often if needed. But we can not close markets or other institutions to conduct a desinfestation," – Nadiya Malevichko, the head of the preventive disinfection department of Uzhgorod Sanitary & Epidemiological Service said. – We can only ask the owners to stop working, and then we can do deratization. It does not take much time."

    The only way out suggested by the city SES is to conclude a contract for disinfestation with them. 

Another interested party, who wants to get rid of rats, is the owners of the trade complex "Luxor Plaza." "We poison them all the time. Twice a week. No one else does it – the director of the TC "Luxor Plaza" Andriy Dovbysh told our reporter. – We do everything on our own. I suggested them all – the market and the "Natadent" – to do deratization together.  But no one wants to do it.   By the way, we are ready to take those cans out of the courtyard, if they open the gate for us, and we will be taking garbage out through our own exit. If there are no garbage cans, there will be no rats. We are also ready to close the complex, in order to carry out deratization with the neighbors."

As you can see, the businessmen, as well as the government, and the SES want to get rid of rats, but they can not find the perfect recipe. Until then the center of the city, that wants to look European so much, looks more like medieval Europe, where rats are running a few meters away from the market, a medical institution and a vast shopping center spreading infections.