Two million Ukrainians left without water due to company's unpaid debts

KIEV (AFP) Apr 02, 2003
More than two million people in eastern Ukraine were deprived of running water Wednesday when a power company cut off electricity to the water firm because of unpaid bills, the Interfax news agency said, adding hospitals were also without supplies.

The local authorities in the affected Dnipropetrovsk region said the power cut was illegal and added it intended to sue the power company, which is 75-percent owned by the state.

The regional government owed the power company the equivalent of some 56.3 million dollars, Interfax said.

The incident cut off water supplies not only to homes and businesses but also hospitals and schools, the agency added.

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