Irina Hecht: “Measures of social support should be guaranteed to people”

Today the problem of social development is especially topical for Russia, Tribuna’s guest is deputy chairwoman of the Federation Council Committee for Agricultural and Food Policy and Management of Nature, a senator of the Chelyabinsk Oblast, Irina Hecht.

See part 1 Irina Gekht: “To prolong life in villages, they need water and gas supply, and roads”

- You offered to double the area of accommodation from 18 to 36 square meters for families with disabled people. Have you succeeded with this bill? 

- This involves additional federal budget costs. But again, it is the question of the efficient use of budget funds. What is a family with a disabled child? As a rule, it is an incomplete family, where only the mother brings the child up. When a family needs 18 extra square meters, but the cost of flats, for example in the Chelyabinsk region, is 29 thousand rubles a square meter. The price of a flat is a little over 500,000. That is why this family cannot afford this flat. When it is the turn of a woman, she received a certificate, tried to buy something, but realized that she cannot buy anything. Time passed and this money was returned to the federal budget. I think that in this case we do not even ask for an increase in funding, but we have the possibility of receiving twice as much as the norm. About a million is enough to buy a small apartment in Chelyabinsk.

It is better for the federal budget when we return the rest of the money. We even ask to leave these volumes, but allow more square meters to be provided as the norm. For example, for World War II veterans. The norm of 36 square meters was introduced especially for them. So let's introduce it for families with disabled children. Now we are waiting for the conclusion of the government. I have no doubt that the conclusion will be negative, because the position of the government is always negative in respect to any additional costs, but I still think that it is necessary to ensure that the norm for this category be increased.

- Tell us about the initiative to deprive alimony defaulters of their driving licenses. At what stage are the discussions?

- By the way, my son is very skeptical about this step, but this is a boyish attitude. What has caused my support of this bill? We are working with the minister of social relations, we have seen how many unfulfilled lawsuits there are, particularly regarding alimony.

Now there are about 1.5 million executive documents in Russia. There were restrictions on travelling abroad, and this increased payment discipline. This measure is accepted in many countries around the world, even in our former republics, such as Belarus and Kazakhstan, which have similar rules. There are rules for those who do not pay child support, so they will be restricted from holding a driver's license for some time until it expires.

- And what if the defaulter and his profession is directly related to the driving license, because they are truckers?

- According to the statistics, the measure will affect about 37% of the total number of non-payers. But if it is the source of his income, if a family member has a disability, and it includes means of transportation, then of course, in this case, this rule does not apply. The law has already been adopted in the first reading, and it was supported and the Federal Bailiff Service, which faces the same problem.

And we have a problem of children who are in our institutions for orphans and children left without care, because many of the parents are alive. And these parents also do not pay child support. There are usually 90% who do not pay the money. Many experts are inclined toward the good Soviet system of public works, compulsory treatment, which was taken to ensure that all children receive the same that can be derived from these would-be parents.

- Let's talk with you about one of the most acute social problems of the Chelyabinsk region - the incident at the production association "Mayak" in 1957 which was followed by the release of radioactive materials into the atmosphere. There were people who suffered as a direct result of this release from the very first in the history of the world nuclear industry. And there were even the relocation of people. What is happening with these people? Are they getting some kind of assistance in connection with the accident?
 
- In fact, it was probably the first accident of this kind, and they were silent before the Chernobyl accident. Resets into the River Techa began in 1947, because actually we did not understand the consequences ... That was the beginning of the nuclear industry in Russia.

And then another event occurred in 1962, when there was the so-called East-Ural radioactive trace, when from Lake Karachai a spacing of the particles happened here, yes, and that hurt the Chelyabinsk region and Sverdlovsk and Kurgan. 

People still believe that the Chernobyl accident and the accident at "Mayak" are two different stories; and the people who suffered there and there shall be protected by separate laws. The Chelyabinsk region more than once went out with the initiative to adopt a separate law on social protection of citizens affected by the accident at the "Mayak" production association. 

Scientists proved that such a thing as the descendants of the first and second generations, who also suffer, especially the third generation, associated with blood and malignant formations. So we want to include this category in the number of victims from the accident so they could receive social support too. 

There was quite a large number of pregnant women, and their children did not receive any status, though in fact they were the same victims of the accident at 'Mayak' in the mother's womb. Therefore, there are many such nuances, but, unfortunately, when you do not communicate with these people it is difficult to understand such categories. But, nevertheless, I will raise the question of such a law to be adopted in the autumn session again. We do not ask for anything more, but it should affect those citizens who live in the Chelyabinsk, Kurgan and Sverdlovsk regions, it's not so many people to refuse to provide social support measures.

It is wrong that people are spending a lot of time, health, forces to prove that they were involved in the liquidation of consequences, while there are archive materials.

- And the psychological component, of course…

- Yes. There was a lot of speculation about it, some environmental organizations, funded by it's clear whom, deceive people. We recently discussed such a thing as environmental extremism, I witnessed how the representatives of some organization told people that their village has cavities with something. I think such things should be punished quite harshly, it is the responsibility of the people and organizations that are trying to solve their problems at the expense of others.