The mayor of Volgograd was helped to build a bypass
At the previous live television broadcast, Roman Grebennikov, the mayor of Volgograd, complained that he did not have enough funds to complete the construction of the bypass, which the city badly needs.
"I will take care of it and will give instructions to the road service," Putin promised and kept his word.
"Things have started moving. The construction of the bypass was included into the programme for the development of motor roads," Grebennikov confirmed to KP.
Dairy convenience stores were returned to Nizhny Novgorod
A year ago the municipal authorities of Nizhny Novgorod decided to shut down dairy convenience stores for lack of profit. The city seethed with indignation for two months but officials turned a deaf ear.
Mila Nabiyeva, the mother of six-month-old Sasha, got through to the prime minister and complained about this. Putin gave a tough response: "I don't know why the mayor decided to close these convenience stores. If the municipal authorities do not react to the discontent of the city residents, this may have its effect on the elections of the next mayor. We will recommend your mayor and governor support the people and not make their life more difficult."
Dairy convenience stores were reopened as if by magic.
A road and school under construction in a village in Buryatia
Dasha Varfolomeyeva got on the phone to the prime minister. She lives with her family in the village of Tugnui in Buryatia. She asked Uncle Vladimir to get her a Cinderella dress. At Putin's invitation the girl came to the New Year party in the Kremlin together with her mother and elder sister. She told the prime minister about the problems in the village - lack of good roads and the building of a school in bad condition.
"Thanks to my neighbour Dasha for getting through to Putin!" the head of the village Alexander Burlakov said with a smile. "We will now have a 13.5 km road. The school building will be repaired. Who knows maybe we will even have a pig farm built and become prosperous like in olden times."
The bank returns the money
A year ago Natalya Larionova, vice president of the Urals Tourist Association, planned to take children from Yekaterinburg to meet Father Frost in Veliky Ustyug. A million roubles was raised for the trip but due to the crisis the money stuck in a bank. She was unable to cash it and decided to call the prime minister.
"Regrettably, I couldn't get through and sent a text message. The bank returned the money literally on the following day. Later on, an employee of the prime minister's administration called me on my mobile phone and asked whether I would like to talk to the prime minister. I was a bit startled but said ‘Of course.' In the very beginning Putin asked me whether my problem had been resolved. I said it was and thanked him. In a week 800 children went by train to Veliky Ustyug."
Grain prices in Penza remained the same
Nikolai Pustovalov, a farmer from the village of Nikulyevka in the Penza Region, asked Putin last year why producers cannot sell grain for more than three roubles per kilo. "Why doesn't the Agriculture Ministry keep its promise? We were told that we could sell for 5.5 roubles and that we would receive subsidies," the farmer asked with indignation.
"We allocated more than 30 billion roubles from the budget for this purpose on the Agriculture Ministry's executive order, and 2.5 million tons of grain has been purchased at a price that exceeds the current market price - 5,000 roubles per ton. We are buying it even for 6,000 roubles in the Urals and Siberia," Putin replied.
After the session, Pustovalov received a subsidy - 30,000 roubles for 370 hectares of land.
However, in 2009 the Penza farmers' problems remained the same. They took in a record harvest, but grain was still bought for three roubles per kilo. It looks like they will have to call Putin again.
The regional Agriculture Ministry department asked the farmers to wait till March. Argentina and North America did not have a good grain harvest and grain may be exported in spring.
Prepared by Viktoria Anisimova (KP-Volgograd), Yulia Bazanova (KP-Nizhny Novgorod), Alyona Samarina and Olga Buyeva (KP-Irkutsk) and Semyon Chirkov (KP-Yekaterinburg).
Larisa Kaftan