15 June 2004 11:01
State should balance gas, coal consumption, pay miners on time - Russian MP
The coal industry in Russia is in decline due to the increasing share of natural gas used as fuel, Nikolay Leonov, a
member of the State Duma security committee and member of the Motherland faction, told Ekho Moskvy radio in response to
the continuing hunger strikes by miners in various Russian regions.
He said that the mine owners practically never bear responsibility for miners' wage arrears or the consequences
of their hunger strikes. They are very reluctant to modernize mines in order to improve miners' working conditions,
specifically to ensure proper ventilation or to install alarm systems.
At present coal is unprofitable and the power engineering industry prefers to use gas, Leonov said. He said that 80
per cent of fuel used by the Unified Energy System of Russia (UES) is gas and suggested that the state must take control
of gas consumption. The state should also intervene in situations when mine owners do not pay workers' wages for
six or eight months. Leonov said that the government does not take any measures to ensure that miners get paid on time,
while the number of billionaires in Russia is growing every year.
[Ekho Moskvy radio] |
RUSSIA IN FACTS
