''The population is the only source of costs for separate waste collection so far''
7 Days: from preparations for the World Cup to laureates of Tukay Award
How prepared is Kazan for the World Cup? Why is May Day not the same as before? Who will pay for separate waste collection? What are opportunities for people with disabilities in terms of employment? These and other questions formed the basis of the weekly informational and analytical program 7 Days broadcasted on TNV channel. Read more in the review of Realnoe Vremya.
Kazan is preparing for the sports event
Last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin and FIFA President Gianni Infantino once again tested the sports facilities of World Cup in Russia. The FIFA World Cup will be held for the first time in Russia from June 14 to July 15 this year. The matches will be held at 12 stadiums in 11 cities of Russia: Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kazan, Samara, Saransk, Rostov-on-Don, Sochi, Kaliningrad, Volgograd, Nizhny Novgorod and Yekaterinburg. It is expected that the championship matches will be watched by about 1,55 million unique viewers. Six matches will be held in Kazan within the group stage.
Now the capital of Tatarstan is actively preparing for the main sports event. In total, there are about 200 hotels in the city, fitting any even the most demanding taste. The total hotel room stock in the capital is about 9,500. But to accommodate all guests and football fans, they will also need other, as expressed by experts, collective accommodation facilities. In addition to hostels and hotels in neighbouring regions, it is also apartments. According to experts, it will take about 8,000 apartments in Kazan. But to accept football fans, the owners of apartments need to observe a number of rules. The main rule — the apartment quality and living conditions must meet the standards.
There are also halal hotels in Kazan. Today there are three of them. The hotels have passed all the necessary procedures, received the appropriate qualification and can now accommodate and treat Muslim guests according to the canons of Islam. Another several hotels are going to join them soon. Experts note that this service will be in great demand, and during the championship especially.
Is it possible to buy tickets for the matches held at Kazan Arena now? It is very difficult, says minister of youth and sports of Tatarstan Vladimir Leonov.
''There are already no cheap tickets. Rather expensive category of tickets has left. They can be purchased on the FIFA website,'' Tatarstan minister of youth affairs and sports Vladimir Leonov described the situation.
But if you took care about tickets for the matches of the World Cup in Kazan in advance, then good for you. It only remains to go through the standard procedures for obtaining a fan passport. You can do this on the days of matches, just a few hours before the game. It is also possible to register everything in advance.
Meanwhile, tourists in Kazan are becoming more and more, which was especially noticeable during May holidays. The central points of attraction are known. It is the Kremlin and the surrounding area, Bauman Street, the promenade. A separate zone will be specially organized for all fans in the area of the family centre Kazan.
It is possible that some of the guests of Kazan will want to get out of the city on days free from matches. Cultural leisure is guaranteed. The island town of Sviyazhsk is especially waiting for the guests. Ancient Bolgar is preparing an interesting programme.
Now Kazan restaurateurs are completing the finishing touches in their establishments. They are preparing to impress guests of the capital with impeccable service and high cuisine.
''I can say for sure that there will be a menu of cuisines of the teams that will play in Kazan. Everyone is ready to work round-the-clock, if only there is someone to serve. This is the moment when there is an opportunity to earn,'' says Executive Director of the Association of Restaurateurs and Hoteliers of Kazan and Tatarstan Galina Sharafutdinova.
There should not be issues with the streets of the cities. Road works are under way on separate sites. For example, on the Millennium Square the repairs are carried out round the clock. The works are implemented from Tankovoe Koltso. It is the street the guests of World Cup will go from the airport. Also as priority sites there have been designated streets Pavlyukhina, Peterburgskaya, Sibgata Khakima, Vosstaniya and Leniskaya Damba. The weather has contributed to some changes, but the deadline is expected to be met, the road builders say.
No major sports event can be imagined without volunteers. Overall, 2,242 volunteers will work at the championship. The volunteers of the programme The Organizing Committee Russia 2018 has already started training.
The stadium in Kazan is almost ready. All its services will hold the general rehearsal on May 7 at the test match Rubin-Ufa. On the day of the test match there will operate the zone of the ''last mile''. This means that the area around the stadium will be pedestrian. The scheme of public transport will change for 3 hours before the match, that is, from 4:00 PM. Part of the streets near the stadium will be closed, and residents who live near Kazan Arena will be issued special permits for private cars.
''May Day is not the same as it used to be''
The country has recently celebrated May Day. VTSIOM experts made an interesting selection, comparing data for the last quarter of the century. If in 1994 65% of respondents reported that they were going to celebrate May Day, then in 2018 the number of those wishing has decreased to 56%. Among the most common plans of Russians on May Day – to spend time with family (27%), in the garden (21%), 13% — even preferred to work on this day.
May Day is not the same as it used to be, says historian and ethnographer Anatoly Yeldashev. Not the same as in the Soviet Union. Earlier, said Yeldashev, every May Day everyone in Kazan tried to get to Liberty Square.
Anatoly Mikhailovich took part in the demonstration for the first time as a student. Later as the instructor of regional committee of the party and deputy head of the committee on vocational education, already helped with the organization of matches. The most popular slogans of the demonstrations in the USSR were: ''Peace, Work, May'', ''Long live communism'', ''Glory to the workers of production'', says the historian.
This year, perhaps, only Communists celebrated May Day in Kazan with the special Soviet flavour.
''The whole world celebrates, but the Communists in Kazan were not allowed to march to the holy place — the monument to Vladimir Lenin,'' complains the first secretary of the Tatarstan Republican Committee of the Communist Party Khafiz Mirgalimov: the law does not allow.
Khafiz Mirgalimov is sure that the procession should be take place:
''It should be not returned but updated, when people go with flowers, banners, music, orchestra. It's the spirit of the Soviet period. They are trying to divide us by national apartments, religion, education, profession. We can't be divided. Therefore, it is a common holiday. Ilyich won't go anywhere,'' Mirgalimov said.
The Communists decided to lay flowers, but they didn't want to have a penalty at 10,000 rubles like last year. They preferred pavement to roadway, instead of banners in the hands — only small flags.
The liberal democrats also held a march on May 1. In the Square of Glory there were even less citizens than near the monument to Vladimir Lenin. The leader of the Tatarstan branch of LDPR, Marcel Gabdrakhmanov, notes: apparently, many people on that day decided to open the dacha season. He also noted that the concept of ''solidarity of workers'' today was blurred.
''Our doctor earns little, he needs to prepare a child for school, for kindergarten, and to pay for utilities, pay for mortgage. But he's lying sick, he thinks: here you are my sweetie's purse,'' Gabdrakhmanov says.
The most massive in Kazan was the meeting of labour unions in Victory Park. It is not 120,000 people as on Red Square in Moscow, but also not three tens as in Glory Square.
''There have been marches in Kamchatka, Irkutsk, Khabarovsk. The main slogans — decent salary, fair social policy,'' says the Secretary of the Federation of Independent Labour Unions of Russia Alexander Shershukov.
Among those who came to the meeting — Tatarstan Minister of Labour Elmira Zaripova. According to her, the most important new introduction concerns 90,000 workers in Tatarstan.
''On May 1, 2018, the decision came into force when the minimum wage cannot be less than the subsistence minimum. To this decision, the government went on for a long time, and on May 1 the amount was 11,163 rubles,'' Zaripova says. The main problematic issue that is now under control in the ministry is the timeliness of salary payments. There are debts in Tatarstan — about 15 million rubles at 8 enterprises.
Unlike Kazan, Naberezhnye Chelny celebrated May Day in the best traditions of Soviet times.
''In Naberezhnye Chelny, demonstrations have always been held. Now the economy is on the rise, the city received a second wind, it has become a territory of advanced development. So God ordered,'' said the mayor of Naberezhnye Chelny, Nail Magdeev.
Certainly, the thing is not only and not so much in the economy. Kazan is also a labour city, like Naberezhnye Chelny and Moscow. But this holiday left the Kazan streets too quietly.
Who will pay for separate waste collection?
The next story of 7 Days was dedicated to separate waste collection, or rather, the income that can be obtained from this process. For example, separate waste collection has been developing in Saransk for 6 years. In the capital of Mordovia, there are three times less inhabitants than, for example, in the capital of Tatarstan, and the waste they produce is six times less. Therefore, 740 containers with yellow lid to collect all sorts of packaging is enough for the city. The result is worthy of respect, but far from our dreams. 13% of the collected waste is sent for recycling. Perhaps, it is the ceiling for Russia so far because not every seemingly useful waste, in principle, can be disposed. There's just no one to recycle it. And second, people don't come to ecological consciousness quickly.
Perhaps, only the youth of the city will be able to evaluate over time the efforts that were made in Saransk to reduce the amount of waste. Modern adult population sometimes believes that they in vain fatten someone's pocket.
''We're taken money away!'' a local resident outrages.
This citizen, who pays his 100 rubles a month for waste collection, of course, does not know that no separate collection fee is included in this tariff. He also does not know that all this infrastructure created by millions of investments is absolutely unprofitable in Saransk.
''The revenue from the sale of secondary raw materials for separate collection of these wastes covers approximately half of these costs. Our company is engaged in separate collection only on a voluntary basis,'' CEO of Remondis Svetlana Bigesse says.
There are only two financing options for the regional operator, who will soon be engaged in separate collection. The first option is preferred. Extended responsibility of the producer. Ideally, manufacturers pay an environmental fee, the money goes to a large federal cloud, from where it is then poured as rain on the selected territory. In Germany, for example, it is rather a downpour of 900 million euros a year. All this money allows regional operators to develop a system of separate collection. In Russia, there is no rain so far. Tatarstan, for example, last year replenished this cloud by 29 million rubles. This is the sum of ecological fees from our producers. This money, if they ever rain down on us in the form of grants, is not enough not only for Kazan bur even for a district. And in the cloud there are only 3 billion rubles for the country. But there is also the second option — not to wait for favours from ''heavenly office'' and to look into our pocket.
''In Germany, they pay about 200 euros per quarter for waste collection. If we compare with our tariffs, we have almost 10 times less. The existing money in the industry is not enough,'' said the director of the Volga environmental company, Olga Gudimova.
Perhaps, soon we should expect not separate collection of our waste, but undivided collection of our income. Perhaps, we will have to move from words to deeds. Or to deal with those who dare to engage in separate collection. From environmental populism to proceed to the realization of the fact that the environment requires sacrifice. If we want it to be like in Germany.
''If any region wants to have separate waste collection in its city, the only source of these additional costs is the population so far. Because today there are no other sources,'' says Svetlana Bigesse.
To employ
Last year, 1,270 incapacitated persons applied to the employment service of Kazan in search of a job. Of these, only 688 were employed, that is, a little more than a half. The problem of employment of people with disabilities remains one of the most urgent. The question arises — whether the limited possibilities of health are a hindrance to finding a good job? Unfortunately, yes. In that case, the state acts as the assistant in employment of disabled people.
Every year, students who have health problems face barriers for employment. Today, 100 students with disabilities study at the college of small business and entrepreneurship. Of these, 13 people are hearing impaired and 87 people are with developmental lag. To become an entrepreneur, to succeed in their business — for these special children it is not even a choice, but rather a vital necessity. The alternative is to spend most of the time at home, in four walls. That is why such students, teachers note, have a special zeal for learning and energy, which others can only envy.
It is worth noting that children with impaired health begin to study from an early age. But not all children fall into the category of capable to work. They try to train those who can benefit both themselves and society and, if it is possible, to provide with a job. To help these people, there is the special project with the symbolic name ''We need you''. Thanks to it, students have an opportunity to present their skills and products. The employer, in turn, can immediately take notice of capable people. The college of small business and entrepreneurship works closely with a bakery and a shoe factory. Therefore, some students, completing their studies, already purposefully go to work by their specialty. But there are also those less lucky.
''There is such part of children who can't find a job. But they're self-employed. If parents purchase a cheap sewing machine, they can be engaged in shoes repair on the street. But it is more difficult to get a job as a baker, confectioner, because here medical documents are needed. In general, embroiderers can also do home-based job,'' says director of the college of small business and entrepreneurship Olga Silantyeva.
Bakers, seamstresses, decorators — several groups with disabilities study at the 41st college. Some products of students are already in great demand. Three employers have already signed agreements with the director of the trade and economic college. It should be said that the disabled can find a job individually using the portal ''Work in Russia''. 1,218 vacancies have been announced for the disabled in the republic. Applicants have the opportunity to contact the employer and offer their candidacy indivudually.
One of the variants of employment of specialists with disabilities is the combine of homeworkers. The enterprise is engaged in tailoring of overalls. Today, 26 people work here, and half of the employees are disabled.
''We create jobs and increase the growth every year. The main customers are large factories, enterprises, also car salons,'' said the head of the Kazan combine of homeworkers, Adel Galiullin.
The employment centre provides assistance in finding a suitable job. It is important not only to listen to the wishes of the candidate, but also to establish contact with him or her. For each applicant who wants to find a job, they register a ''passport of a disabled person''. The information in it is checked with the requirements of the vacancy, and then the decision is made whether the applicant is suitable or not.
Every year the enterprises are set a quota for the employment of disabled persons. So, last year 98 people were employed on quota jobs in Kazan.
''Tatarstan is implementing a law, according to which we set a quota even for those organizations which have 35 employees. That is, the level of employment of disabled persons is not to be less than 3% in the organization with the number from 35 to 100 people. If the organization has more than 100 employees in the regular number, then from 2 to 4%,'' explains minister of labour, employment and social protection Elmira Zaripova.
To employ a disabled is half the battle. The workplace must be equipped with all necessary conditions. Here the state can help the enterprise, partially compensating the expenses.
''There's a programme, called ''72 and 6''. That is, about 72,000 rubles, which are subject to compensation if the employer has created a specially equipped workplace. Last year, this programme was implemented for 100 jobs in the amount of 7 million rubles. This year, the amount of expenses is expected in the amount of 1 million rubles,'' says Elmira Zaripova.
People with disabilities can create jobs on their own. Enterprises established by public associations of disabled persons receive a subsidy that covers the cost of wages. Thus, the state motivates business that creates jobs for people with disabilities. In fact, by giving salaries to employed disabled people. In the end, everybody wins. The state that solves the most important social problem of employment of the special category of citizens, the disabled themselves who find themselves in life, and enterprises that receive a preferential subsidy. Today there are eight enterprises in the republic that employ about 500 workers with disabilities. About 20 million rubles are provided in the budget of the republic each year to support them.
Last year, this service was provided to create 100 jobs. And this year, in the first quarter the ministry of labour and social protection of the Republic of Tatarstan supported eight projects that allowed people with disabilities to find a job.
Tukay Award celebrates anniversary
This year, Tukay Award in Tatarstan has been held for the 60th time. The award is having a kind of anniversary. It was awarded to Kamil Karimov, a member of the Union of Writers of Tatarstan, artist Mikhail Kuznetsov. For great contribution to ''development of culture, revival of spirituality, preservation of national values and historical heritage of the peoples living in the Republic of Tatarstan'', the State Prize was awarded to the creative group of the company Tattelecom. Correspondents of 7 Days got acquainted with the prize winners and their works, which, according to the jury, were the most congenial to Tukay.
His jokes are used as quotations, and at concerts with his participation the tickets are always sold out. Author of satirical monologues Kamil Karimov has long become a favourite of the public. He knows how to make people laugh and always remembers that ''behind every joke there is some joke''.
The famous satirist and writer takes life also with a sense of humour. In childhood, he used to write poems, but he did not become a poet. He failed to enter the Kazan University from the first time — he became a driller of artesian wells. But every blow tells. This experience on the ground, in the field, in a team of drillers, after 20 years brought him great success.
His novel describes the life of two generations. The people who lived before and after perestroika. This novel, according to the author, has it all: joy and sorrow, laughter and tears. Everything like in real life. Kamil Karimov admits that his best work has not been written yet. But it will not be worse than one by Ilf and Petrov. Especially since Russia has an inexhaustible stock of ideas.
A good, old janitor, with whom they used to drink tea in the mornings. His portrait is getting ripe on the top floor. According to artist Mikhail Kuznetsov, in order the painting saw the light of day, it should have a thorough rest, get ripe, to prepare. Only six months later, it can be considered to be finished.
His characters are recognized by characteristic shapes, character, details. It would seem it is dry and callous graphic style at first glance. But it is with the help of strokes and dashes he achieves in his paintings sensuality and life.
Tatar motifs on embroidered patterns, on white floorboards, pillows, tablecloths, curtains. This is his village, his homeland, his streets and his people. He likes white colour, for purity and hope. That is why it's always bright and clean in his village.
Having become a winner of Tukay Award, Mikhail Kuznetsov now dreams to paint a picture of the land that the poet praised. It was the village of Kyrlay left a lasting impression after his last visit.
A couple of years ago, the manor Sagdi-aby, where little Tukay spent his childhood, was in abandoned condition. In 2016, a new museum complex appeared in Kyrlay village. In the first place, in the cemetery there appeared a monument to Sagdi-abzy, the territory was landscaped, the well from which little Apush used to drink was restored. Now this place is not only a source of life, but also inspiration for many people coming to Kyrlay.
The improvement of springs, ancient cemeteries, creation of new museum complexes, monuments and historical sites — according to the head of the company Tattelecom, Lutfulla Shafigullin, over 10 years his creative team has done a great job. Tukay Award is a merit of all staff of the company. All this was done to ensure that the future generation had an idea of what the history, culture and heritage of the people living on this land is.
''The construction of springs, museums is like a poem, novel. Because people spiritually get enriched here. The church, which we restored, will stand for another 100 years,'' Shafigullin summed up.