At the rally on April 22 on the Nikonov square of Yoshkar-Ola, gathered under the banner of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation demanded to return the social benefits canceled in Mari El, the correspondent of «7x7» reports.
The main participants of the rally organized by the CPRF city committee were pensioners. The secretary of the city committee of the Communist Party Alexander Maslikhin spoke to them:
'A little time passed since the landmark meeting on January 5, where we demanded to return social benefits to the residents of the republic. But there have been significant changes in the power structures. First, at the beginning of the year the State Assembly returned part of the benefits to the population. But compensation for them is simply ridiculous. They do not cover a tenth of the former benefits for transport, communal and consumer services. Some pensioners have 'benefits' of 18-20 rubles a month.'
The rally participants supported the resolution of ten points. The first point, despite the stated subject, is a protest against calls to remove the body of the leader of the Russian revolution Vladimir Lenin from the Mausoleum. Further — demand to return social benefits for schoolchildren, students, large families and pensioners abolished in the republic. The rally participants are waiting the law enforcement agencies to continue fighting against bribes, which, in their opinion, have received ubiquitousness under the former head of the region.
Another requirement of the resolution runs: 'To begin collecting signatures for renaming embankments of Bruges and Amsterdam as symbols of Markelov's corrupt regime'. The protesters supported proposals on the adoption of the law on "children of war" by the State Duma and the State Assembly of the Republic and on a transparent mechanism for calculating pensions. The protesters believe that government of the former head of the region and the chairman of the cabinet of ministers should be dismissed. Another point of the resolution concerns the participation of CPRF representatives in the May Day demonstration. The party column will come out under red banners with the slogan ‘For a worthy life'.
Social benefits were monetized, canceled or substantially reduced in Mari El at the end of 2016. Changes in social security have affected republican labor veterans, rear workers and rehabilitated and recognized as victims of political repression. After amending the regional law, their free of charge fare was canceled, the rules for providing compensations for dentistry, payment for communal services and communication services were changed.
In January, a large protest rally against the abolition of benefits was held. A few weeks later, the authorities of the republic decided to restore benefits to certain categories of state employees living in the countryside.
The abolition of benefits is disputed in the Constitutional Court of Mari El by the human rights commissioner in the republic Larisa Yakovleva. She asked to assess whether the adopted norms are in conformity with the Constitution.
Dmitry Lyubimov, photo by Alexey Skuratov-Belsky, «7x7»
