This was one of several messages that came out of the meeting of the Government's Presidium.
Opening yesterday's Government Presidium meeting Prime Minister Vladimir Putin warned that it had some "complicated and unpleasant issues" to discuss. The issues included housing and utilities and air transport.
"The housing and utilities complex is a problem that can be described, in medical terms, as a chronic ailment of our economy and the social sphere, Mr Putin said. Perhaps some may feel that we would do better to leave that theme alone. Anyway, although there is some improvement, it is insignificant and people are justifiably complaining. So, if we do not come to grips with this problem and do not publicly discuss such issues, we will never solve them. We should act according to the old Russian proverb: "The eyes are afraid but the hands do the job".
To alleviate the problems of housing and utilities, the regions will get 100 billion roubles this year compared with 59 billion roubles last year.
Mr Putin said that the housing and utilities sector had got through the autumn and winter season fairly smoothly. Only 33 accidents had occurred, three times less than in the previous season.
Of course the Government will earmark money, but it will closely watch how it is used. The regions must start saving energy, install water, gas and central heating metres in houses and flats. "The residents should only pay for the services they actually get and not what they are charged by the housing authorities," Mr Putin said. This is the only way to build civilised relations between the providers and consumers in the housing and utilities sphere, to ensure a better quality of services and an affordable level of tariffs for housing and utility services.
The second topic of discussion was air carriage, which, with the holiday season approaching, is becoming just as much of a headache as housing and utilities. One recalls that last year people were stranded in airports for days because their airlines had gone bankrupt. The carriers are not much better off today than they were at the very start of the crisis. So the Government has decided to take some precautionary measures. Vladimir Putin signed a decree on a 5 billion rouble subsidy to air carriers in 2009.
"If some air company, for some reason, cannot meet its obligations and carry the passengers, the Transport Ministry will automatically pay the money to help another company take over the passengers, Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov explained the insurance system. In this way the state guarantees that the passengers will be served regardless of which company's tickets they have booked. "Air companies should not be allowed to sink into such financial straits, Mr Putin said in reply. The requirements must be tough. In many European countries if finances shrink to a danger level, airlines are stripped of their license. We should be more careful in that department."
By Nigina Beroyeva