Representatives of the private kindergarten “Secret Garden” located in Râșcani district of Chisinau complain that multistory buildings started to be erected close to the institution in February and the kindergarten’s activity has been disrupted from the day the works started and the health and safety of children has been in danger. The administration of the kindergarten that has worked for 13 years already said the functionaries of the City Hall choose to close the kindergarten and to send the children home rather than to stop the construction works.

“There were days when we really bathed in dust and when the noise made by trucks and building equipment disturbed the children’s walk and sleep. For several times, we asked the police to intervene and the officers helped us to continue our work according to the ordinary program. We think we are exposed to a major risk. Yesterday, a crane driver felt sick when he was at a height of 30 meters from ground at the building site. Who protects us from such dangers? It looks as if we are in a war and fight to defend ourselves,” Tatiana Balan, methodologist of the kindergarten “Secret Garden”, stated in a news conference at IPN.

Tatiana Balan noted that nobody cares about the kindergarten’s fate because the interests are probably too great and some of the functionaries were paid to issue illegal building authorizations. The kindergarten is separated from the building site by an improvised net only.

Lawyer Andrei Lungu said that in a response to their inquiry, the Agency for Technical Supervision on four pages described all the violations committed at the building site, including nonobservance of the regime of height and of the land occupation percentage and execution of the construction without obeying the distance up to the playground and the building of the kindergarten.

“I don’t know where we are heading for. Tomorrow, the health and life of the children of any of us can be neglected. The behavior of the local public authorities, the City Hall is strange. At the meetings we had with them, they said the building companies will continue work. They are predisposed to close the kindergarten rather than to stop those works,” stated Andrei Lungu.

Stela Efros, the mother of three children who attended or continue to go to that kindergarten, said such developments are inadmissible. When she takes her four-year-old child to the kindergarten, she fears something will happen. The construction site safety norms are not respected and the safety of children and employees of the institution is in danger. The noise and noxious emissions affect the daily activity. “We ask the responsible institutions and the local public authorities to provide explanations and to urgently solve the created situation as such a state of affairs cannot continue,” noted Stela Efros.

Parent Petru Amihalachioaie said that since the construction works started, he has left the four-year-old child at the institution with fear that something bad can happen. They cannot understand why such constructions are permitted to the detriment of the education institutions.

The representatives of the kindergarten called on the responsible bodies and the local public authorities to intervene and take measures to safeguard the best interests of children.