| On Thursday Grigory
Yavlinsky and his deputy heads in the YABLOKO faction Sergei
Mitrokhin and Igor
Artemyev drew preliminary results of their campaign "Let's Put
the Monopolists on the Meter". A ten-month long campaign demonstrated
that citizens' payment for water exceeds the real costs by 3.5 times. YABLOKO
is going to submit to the State Duma a draft law aimed at eliminating these
discrepancies.
Yavlinsky noted: "Here you have an example of how the political
parties and movements work in a practical sense. We think that is how
the election campaign money, which was gathered with such difficulty,
should be spent." By way of confirmation of the words of the YABLOKO
leader Sergei Mitrokhin demonstrated a part of the water pipe with a hot
and cold water meter.
The installation of one such meter costs 5,000 roubles. The costs were
recouped.
About a year ago YABLOKO leaders loudly announced the beginning of a
new action: meters were installed in flats in 11 regions of Russia and
consumption of water was measured for several months. Then the households
forwarded documents on their payment for water to the party. YABLOKO demonstrated
the results to the journalists. The figures highlighted the following
situation: in some cases the normative price of the [ ater provision]
service exceeded the real one by 12.3 times (by 3.5. in Russia in general).
If the person did not live in the flat and correspondingly did not use
water, a fairly high figure still appeared on the bill. The action detected
the regions with an especially high gap between normative and real water
consumption: Moscow, Moscow region and Ulyanovsk. "The present system
of the housing and utilities sector is based on the unconstitutional deceit
of citizens," said Yavlinsky.
"The money that we are overpaying for water, heat, etc, said Mitrokhin,
- goes down the holes in the pipes and dirty entrances to apartment blocks,
non-core expenditures of the utilities enterprises - their cars and their
own out-patient departments, the purchase of television companies, political
parties and conducting of PR campaigns.
YABLOKO not only disclosed this deceit, but also proposed some real
ways of rectifying the situation: the creation of multiple public associations
to protect citizens' rights in the housing and utilities sector, and then
their incorporation in a nationwide organisation, which enterprises of
all types of property functioning in the housing and utilities sector
would have to consider. The faction promised to submit a number of draft
laws this autumn to the Duma aimed at monitoring the over monopolies in
the housing and utilities sector. The goal is to attract the citizens
to monitor the monopolies and encourage small and medium-sized businesses
to work in the housing and utilities sector. By way of economic incentives
for small and medium-sized businesses YABLOKO's deputies proposed tax
cuts for such enterprises. YABLOKO thinks that taxation for small and
medium-scale businesses functioning in the housing and utilities sector
should be reduced to the income tax level - i.e. 13%. It also proposes
reducing tariffs for those who install meters and unite with their neighbours to monitor
the suppliers of heat, water, electricity and conducts refurbishing.
YABLOKO's deputies submitted to the Duma in spring 2003 a complete package
of amendments to the laws regulating relations in the housing and utilities
sector. Yavlinsky informed the press that in autumn YABLOKO plans to propose
to Duma deputies a separate law which will become a "kind of code
of human rights" in the housing and utilities sector.
See also:
Housing
and Utilities Reform
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