Astana citizens don’t want to make national heroes out of policemen

Astana citizens don’t view policemen as Kazakhstan's national heroes. Policemen got the least number of votes from Astana citizens at Astana Tandauy-2012 contest (Astana’s Choice) held by the capital’s Akimat (municipal authorities) prior to the Capital Day, Tengrinews.kz reports, referring to the steering committee of the celebrations. “Only three district police officers have been nominated for the People’s Hero award and only a very small percentage of people are voting for them: only 85 people. This greatly contrasts with the 3436 votes that teachers got. Over 10 000 people have already voted,” the committee's officials said. Police is outraged by the public's attitude: “There are many worthy men among our policemen. It’s a pity that people underestimate our job. I think that we need to nominate more candidates from among police officers,” Serik Tugumbayev, Astana district police officer said. The goal of Astana Tandauy-2012 contest was to find and to tell people about real life heroes, the citizens of Astana city. As a result of the contest a winner was chosen from each of the five categories: Doctor, Public Transport Driver, Teacher, District Police Officer and Worthy Astana Resident. Mariya Shokubasova, primary school teacher, won the Best Teacher award. Vladimir Kalashnikov, gynecologist, won the Best Doctor award. Petr Flag, district police officer, won the Best Police Officer award. Dulat Akhmetov, bus driver, won the Best Public Transport Driver award. Engineer for construction quality at AstanaKurylysService Maidan Kusainov, chief of relay protection and controls at Astana Regional Electric Networks Company Sergey Alekseyev and deputy director of Islam KZ Galym Zhasybayev got the Best Citizen awards. They were awarded with diplomas and memorable souvenirs. "Astana will have billboards with their photos for all the citizens and visitors of the capital to see the best representatives of these important professions, the best people of our capital,” Akimat's press-service quoted Mayor of Astana Imangali Tasmagambetov as saying at the meeting with the winners.