Government meeting
Mikhail Mishustin’s opening remarks:
Good afternoon, colleagues.
During a meeting with the President on Tuesday we discussed the implementation of the social gas supply project. The initiative was put forth by the United Russia party and supported by the President in his Address to the Federal Assembly. It provides for free gas deliveries to the boundaries of household properties, provided the settlement is connected to the gas pipeline.
A project operator has been established. The pipelines must be extended to over three million households. Hotlines have been set up for citizens so that we have feedback to monitor the fulfilment of the President’s instructions.
Another four resolutions have been signed. They include new regulations for connecting people to the gas distribution grids. Under them, applications can be submitted not only at the offices of gas supply companies, but also via the government services portal, multifunctional centres and the single operators. They also set out the criteria and conditions for joining the programme, as well as the deadlines for connecting households.
Amendments have been made to the regulations on preparing and implementing interregional and regional programmes of connecting users to gas supply networks. The timetables include detailed plans for each settlement, street and house with the month when they are to be connected to the network. All this information must be made public.
In addition, we stipulated the provision of a comprehensive service, which includes not only connecting users to the gas supply system but also indoor installation of equipment. I would like to remind you that the President emphasised that there must be no overcharging for these services and that the prices must be strictly monitored.
Colleagues, all the necessary decisions have been adopted. The implementation timeline is tight. There is a lot of work to be done. We must make use of all available resources. This will allow us to improve the quality of life for millions of families.
And now let us get down to our agenda. We will begin with support for our medical staff. They continue working to help coronavirus patients across the country. This is a hard and responsible job. Regrettably, it sometimes happens that while taking care of others our medics catch the virus themselves. Therefore, additional insurance guarantees have been stipulated for them by decision of the President. In other words, onetime insurance payments will be provided to those who catch COVID.
This year, the Government has already allocated some 12.5 billion roubles for this. Today we will allocate another 3 billion. I would like to note that these payments are issued not only to the doctors, but also to paramedics, nurses and ambulance drivers who transport coronavirus patients. All of them are saving lives, and we are deeply grateful to them for this.
Another subject has to do with helping the victims of this year’s heavy and lengthy floods in the Far East. These natural disasters have seriously damaged many areas. Hundreds of families have been flooded out of their homes.
Acting at the request of the President, we held in-depth discussions on the situation at a special meeting during my working trip to the Far East. A number of important decisions were made. The necessary funds have been allocated to the Amur Region and the Trans-Baikal Territory for payments to the flood victims.
Today we will dispatch another 4 billion roubles to the Trans-Baikal Territory. The bulk of these funds, or 3.9 billion roubles, will be invested in new housing for those who have lost their homes to floods. And 350 million roubles will be used for major repairs to the damaged buildings. Over 900 million roubles will be allocated to last year’s flood victims in the Jewish Autonomous Region.
Colleagues, I would like to ask you to closely monitor this work. It is important that none of the flood victims are left in the lurch, every one of them must receive the necessary assistance.
