House of Representatives Demands to Punish Officials

Deputies of the House of Representatives and members of the Council of the Republic have listened to the government’s excuses about social assistance - its yearly reserve was over in March.

The head of the housing policy, construction and privatisation commission Mikalai Chursin claimed about the absence of the expected economic effect of benefits cancellation.

Making a speech for deputies today, he addressed the vice Prime Minister Andrei Kabyakou and said that the arguments of the Ministry of Labour and Social protection about the economic effect of redistribution of benefits were a failure.

"We expected to save 162 billion roubles but the additional expenses exceeded the sum by 3.5 times and the network of railway lines suffered losses”, - reports “Interfax” quoting Chursin. The head of the commission urged to punish the officials who had worked out the project.

Andrei Kabyakou noted that the law on cancellation of benefits had been adopted by the Parliament and that the deputies were also to give account for it. The vice Prime Minister noted that the government had faced additional problems after the adoption of the law and that “the situation had to be analyzed”.

As ERB informed, it will require an additional 40 billion dollars to render social assistance besides the initial sum mentioned in the budget.