Penza, 7 April 2015. PenzaNews. Penza administration employees, including first deputy mayor Viktor Gvozdev, representatives of the Information and Analysis Department and the protocol department, are unable to come to a consensus about the existence of decree No. 410/1 dated March 31, 2015 on discounted bus fares cancellation as of May 1.

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According to Oleg Shalyapin, head of the Communist faction in the Penza City Duma, who was also trying to understand the situation with the decision, he met the first deputy mayor Viktor Gvozdev on the morning of Tuesday, April 7, and asked him a series of direct questions.

“I went to the first deputy city administration head Viktor Gvozdev and requested to clarify the situation. He explained that this regulation does not exist, and it was all a ruse to let the opposition have something to argue about before the upcoming gubernatorial election. When I asked whether the fare deductions would be canceled on May 1, 2015, Gvozdev answered in the negative. This was not planned and will not be,” the agency interlocutor said.

He also explained that he met with Roman Petrukhin, deputy chairman of Penza City Duma, on the same issue.

“He confirmed Gvozdev’s position,” Oleg Shalyapin said.

According to him, the news of deductions cancellation create social tension, and such a decision requires a review in the City Duma.

“There was no such review, and I think that the next agendas will not include this issue,” the agency interlocutor said.

Meanwhile, on the evening of Monday, April 6, a PenzaNews reporter received a confirmation of existence of the decision No. 410/1 dated March 1 from an employee of the Penza administration protocol department. However, the person who confirmed this refused to provide the copy of the document.

“We do not give out anything to anyone. We have the right to give a document if the person is involved, but if you are not, we publish them through the media, thank you,” an employee of the protocol department said over the phone.

The department representative could not tell when the act with a registration ID and a date should appear in the media.

“You should apply to the information department [information and analytics department of the Penza city administration] to [Anastasia] Sobornikova,” the representative of the mayor’s office said, noting that she does not know exactly where the documents are published, since her task is simply to “send [decisions] for publication.”

The PenzaNews agency correspondent inquired whether the protocol department receives the documents already signed by the head of Penza administration, the employee replied in the affirmative.

“Of course! We’re not going to publish it without the signature,” she demanded.

The agency interlocutor also confirmed that if a decision with an assigned ID must be signed.

The reporter inquired whether the protocol has particular decision of the Penza head of administration. The woman asked for its identification number; however, when she learned the reporter was asking about No. 410/1, she sighed and, after several seconds of delay, suggested applying to the information and analytics department.

“Call Sobornikova. I cannot tell you anything. [...] I am not responsible for this,” the employee of the city administration said.

The PenzaNews reporter again tried to clarify whether the protocol department has decision No. 410/1, the administration representative said that they have “the published one.”

“We have the published one, as for the rest, I do not know,” she said.

“Does that mean it has been signed?” the correspondent asked once again.

“Since there is a number, it has certainly been signed. We do not register anything without a signature,” the city administration employee noted.

“Any document without the head’s signature is left unpublished. [...] If it had not been signed by the head [of the Penza administration Yuri Krivov], we would not have registered it,” she said.

After that, PenzaNews correspondent inquired once again how to get the copy of the document, and the woman reminded that she has already explained the procedure.

“A copy— I have already explained. If it concerns you personally, you have to write an application; if it’s a general request, then it is through the media,” she said, assuring that there is no other way to get the document.

On April 6, the information-analytical department of Penza administration told PenzaNews correspondent that they know such a decision, but recommended to address all questions to the department head Daria Samarina, who was neither available by her office or cell phone.

In the course of a drawn-out and practically fruitless conversation, the press service of Penza city administration employee Marina Ushakova confirmed that the identification numbers and the dates on the decision are assigned by the protocol department.

So far, the press service of Penza city administration has provided on the subject, except for the message posted on the administration website at 21.05.