Amendments to the Code of Administrative Offences, under which careless state officials will face harsher penalties, have been approved. Complaints about the official inaction and abuse are rampant and often justified, explained Prime Minister Vladimir Putin at a meeting of the Government Presidium.
"People complain about [officials'] refusal to accept papers, runarounds, and requests to provide unnecessary documents. It's no secret that many officials keep things complicated by asking applicants to bring in all kinds of superfluous approvals," he said.
Money, however, is a universal incentive or, in this case, deterrent. The amendments, which were examined at the meeting of the Government Presidium, envisage penalties to be paid by officials for failure to provide services. Federal, regional and municipal officials will bear administrative liability and will have to pay fines up to 5,000 roubles for requiring irrelevant documents, groundlessly refusing to receive documents, and failure to comply with deadlines.
The prime minister also referred to the vicious circle of complaints that are reported to the very same authorities against which they are filed and then, naturally, get lost there. The amendments call for administrative complaints against authorities – a new type of complaint – which have to be examined within 10 days of being registered.
"Failure to comply with the deadline and the established procedure to consider such a complaint, or refusal to register a complaint, will result in a fine of 10,000 to 30,000 roubles," the prime minister said.
People will be able to express their complaints about negligent officials by paying a personal visit or by telephone, Deputy Minister of Economic Development Oleg Fomichyov told Izvestia. Submission of complaints via the internet (for instance, on the state services' portal) is being developed.
Donorship was also discussed at the meeting. June 14 is World Blood Donor Day, and Minister of Healthcare Tatyana Golikova urged all ministers to donate blood. But government officials showed no desire to do so. Only Vladimir Putin thanked Tatyna Golikova for her offer to give blood.
Minister of Agriculture Yelena Skrynnik reported on the spring sowing, which is 95% complete. According to her, the total area of spring crops covers 50 million hectares.
"This year we have sown more buckwheat, and the sugar beet harvest will also be increased," she said. "According to estimates – provided that the weather is favourable – we expect to harvest 85 million tonnes of grain, which would be enough to meet the country's domestic demand and restore our export capacity."