Penza, 2 April 2016. PenzaNews. The first to speak at the event was Vladimir Simagin, State Duma deputy from the Penza region for the CPRF faction, secretary of the regional Communist Party committee. He sharply criticized the general trend for commercialization, and also touched upon the capital repairs issue.

Photo: Kprfpenza.ru

“We are paying 6.90 rubles for a square meter we own. Now, in your opinion, how many apartment buildings will be repaired in Penza in 2016? Only 19 buildings! All Penza will be pooling money together, all to repair just 19 houses. And you think those would undergo a full repair? No, only have elevators replaced,” he pointed out.

The civil activist Victor Khomets, who also spoke at the public rally tribune, told the crowd about the problems experienced by the people living in the Akhuny and GPZ-24 residential areas, such as several streets lacking asphalt, street lightning, and general improvement.

In turn, Konstantin Spiridonov, first secretary of the CPRF committee in the Pervomaisky city area, touched upon the transportation issue in Penza and proposed to resort to radical measures – ban shuttle buses (marshrutkas) to further development of bus and trolley bus transportation networks.

Furthermore, Konstantin Sinyavin, member of the organization committee against infill construction on Krasnaya street, told the public rally crowd how the citizens fight for their territories and expressed his indignation over the removal of city public gardens to appease real estate producers.

Georgy Kamnev, first secretary of the Regional Committee of the Communist Party, deputy of the Legislative Assembly of the Penza region, also spoke at the tribune. He stressed the fact that the Communist Party defended and will continue to defend the interests of the common people by regularly warning the state against adopting the decisions detrimental to living standards.

“If we would not remind them, everything would just go down to the stone age. Today, we have issues in practically every sector. We have impending healthcare reforms that do not bode well for our future at all. Constantly growing bills, new taxes in the communal sector. An increase here, a higher fee there. The same with the education. Everywhere you look, there’s something bad. The authorities have something bad in store for us in every sector. What they are looking for – that remains unknown,” Georgy Kamnev pointed out.

He also described the proposals by the Communist Party to improve the situation in the country and in the region.

“We propose the citizens of the Penza region and the whole Russia the following way out of the situation: take the communal sector under state control. Communal management companies and payments centers must be owned by the state. Strict control in the healthcare. Allocation of required funding. No privately owned ER. In education: no exaction against the parents. Education must be affordable and free for everyone,” stated the leader of Penza Communists.

In addition, Georgy Kamnev urged Penza region citizens to join the people’s enterprise created by Communists.

“The food prices keep growing. In Penza region, we created a people’s cooperative ‘Tovarisch.’ We eliminated any intermediaries from the field-to-stalls chain, and this allowed us to bring prices down by 30-50%,” the press service of the CPRF regional committee quotes Georgy Kamnev.

The public rally concluded in the adoption of a resolution, that included such demands as: resignation of the state government and rollback on privatization measures; nationalization of the largest enterprises; state monopoly on alcohol production and sales; end of commercialization in education, science, healthcare and culture; support for the CPRF people’s enterprises initiative; formation of a unified state communal management company and a bill payments center; creation of a strong municipal transportation enterprise in Penza; and more.