From now on, anyone can file a complaint or proposal in regards with the ministry. That said, only the Uzbek version of the “reception office” is functioning; the Russian language version of the website does not have that page.
The webpage of the virtual reception office does not provide any phone numbers that could be used to file complaints orally. Turns out, such a phone number does exist: (+998 71) 200-10-09. A representative of the ministry’s press service provided the number only after a correspondent for Fergana has personally requested it.
On the other hand, the webpage includes a table of “appeals by physical and legal entities the virtual reception office of Prime Minister of Uzbekistan” has received pertaining to the ministry of culture and sports. Judging by the table, 229 appeals were lodged by October 20, and 139 of them were addressed.
Background: The prime minister and acting president of Uzbekistan, Shavkat Mirziyoyev, was first to launch a virtual reception office on September 24. Almost 100,000 complaints have already been lodged here to date.
Local observers maintain that only complaints pertaining to the population’s domestic and day-to-day problems are being resolved. The rest of the complaints, as was before, are ignored. Mutabar Tadjibayeva, head of an international human rights organisation, called Mirziyoyev’s “virtual reception” a “phony.”
“Pro-government mass media outlets are trumpeting that Mirziyoyev’s virtual reception helped resolve the problems of thousands of citizens. However, all these complaints were about insignificant problems. Therefore, I think that Mirziyoyev’s virtual reception office is ‘phony’ and not aimed at serious changes in the country,” Ms Tadjibayeva told Ozodlik Radio (the Uzbek-language service of RFE/RL).
In addition to all, Tulkin Teshabayev, the rector of the Tashkent University of Information Technologies, launched his own virtual reception office early November; the ministry of foreign affairs followed suit with its own virtual reception office on its website.
Fergana international information agency.
Правозащитница назвала виртуальную приемную Мирзияева «липовой»
admin