The court and the legislative assembly supported the Novosibirsk governor

The government of the Novosibirsk region managed to defend its decision to reduce benefits for travel on public transport for a significant part of pensioners. On Thursday, at the session of the legislative assembly, the Communist Party faction limited itself to asking the governor about this problem and transferring to him 15 thousand signatures of those dissatisfied. Meanwhile, the regional court rejected the prosecutor's office's attempt to challenge the governor's decision. Governor Vasily Yurchenko himself made it clear to opponents that he would be ready to return to discussing the possibility of expanding benefits only “if the budget allows.”

On Thursday, the problem of reducing benefits for travel on public transport was discussed in two places - at a session of the legislative assembly of the Novosibirsk region and in the regional court, where the regional prosecutor's office protested the relevant decisions of Governor Yurchenko No. 388 and No. 389 of December 13, 2010. Let us recall that, according to these resolutions, a number of categories of citizens, including age pensioners (a total of 450 thousand out of more than 700 thousand benefit recipients in the region), from January 1 can make only 30 free trips per month. Previously, their number was not limited. The governor explained the adoption of such an unpopular measure by the state of the regional budget. At the same time, the same amount will be allocated to provide transport benefits in 2011 as in 2010 - 385 million rubles.

The executive decision caused a wave of protests. The largest action was a rally organized by the Communist Party of the Russian Federation on January 22, which, according to the party itself, attracted more than 5 thousand people. “We appeal to communist deputies and give them an order to raise the issue of returning benefits to veterans at the next session on January 27 in the Legislative Assembly. We demand that all deputies of the legislative assembly vote for the return of benefits,” said the head of the regional branch of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, Anatoly Lokot, at the rally. Earlier, in December last year, the communists tried to convene an extraordinary session on the issue of benefits, but were unable to collect the required number of parliamentary signatures. The Communist Party of the Russian Federation sent a statement about the illegality of the governor’s decisions to the regional prosecutor’s office, which, in turn, protested the decision of the head of the region in court.

Vasily Yurchenko confirmed his position at the session of the legislative assembly, where he delivered a report on the government’s activities in 2010. “I have never made populist decisions... Today I can prove to anyone that this decision is correct,” he said. At the same time, the governor added that for the most socially vulnerable Novosibirsk residents (participants in the Great Patriotic War, war veterans, orphans, children without parental care; students studying in educational institutions, etc. - “Kommersant”), the benefit was fully preserved.

The communists did not put the issue of reducing benefits on the agenda of the session. “The party in power would not allow such an issue to be put on the agenda. In this regard, all the possibilities of the faction were used as part of the discussion of the governor’s report,” explained Artem Skatov, press secretary of the regional committee of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, deputy of the legislative assembly, to Kommersant. Thus, deputy Vyacheslav Zhuravlev asked Mr. Yurchenko whether he would continue to “cooperate with civil society” when making similar decisions. In addition, the head of the communist faction, Viktor Kuznetsov, handed over to the regional leadership a volume with 15 thousand signatures demanding the return of benefits.

In response, the governor noted that he was ready to discuss problems only with participants in legal protests, and he met with participants in illegal protests on January 21 “not even the last time, but the last time.” “If the budget allows, this issue (about expanding transport benefits - Kommersant) is not closed,” he added. “I think that the deputies are satisfied with the governor’s answers to all questions. An honest answer is better than some kind of deceit in answers or promises,” concluded the speaker of the legislative assembly, United Russia member Ivan Moroz, commenting on the results of the discussion of Vasily Yurchenko’s report.

Meanwhile, the regional court completely rejected the regional prosecutor's request to cancel the governor's decree introducing restrictions on the number of preferential trips on public transport. “We will appeal this decision to the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation as soon as we receive the reasoning part of the decision,” senior assistant to the regional prosecutor Natalya Markasova told the Interfax-Siberia agency.

Valery Lavsky, Yuri Belov, Novosibirsk

Benefits postponed until better times