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United Russia for enhancing occupational safety in mining

Neverov recalled that around 500 million rubles was allocated additionally from the federal budget

MOSCOW, August 20 (Itar-Tass) —— The faction of the United Russia Party jointly with trade unions will be pressing for more legislative measures to ensure occupational safety in mining, Sergei Neverov, the secretary of the General Council of the party and deputy speaker of the State Duma, said on Monday.

Answering questions of reporters after the reception by the president of the Russian Federation in the run up to the Miners’ Day, he said that the coal industry was making progress. He said miners’ wages had grown and labor productivity and profits of coal companies were increasing, which made it possible to invest funds into modernization of production, new technologies and ensurance of occupational safety in mining.

“It is important that the coal industry now makes progress, which means that miners will have jobs. It should not be forgotten, though, that miners’ lives and health should not be sacrificed to the output. This is why it is important to give special attention to matters of labor safety,” said the representative of the United Russia leadership who had worked for 16 years at a coal mining enterprise of the Kuznetsk Basin.

Neverov recalled that around 500 million rubles was allocated additionally from the federal budget in 2012 to device and put into use contemporary means of personal protection and rescue in mining. A bill on extra guarantees of occupational safety in mining was passed on the initiative of United Russia. “This work should continue. The United Russia faction in the State Duma will do all so that the budget for next year, too, should envisage allocations for these purposes,” the representative of the party‘s leadership said.

“The problems of the coal industry are under the constant scrutiny of the state. President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin often visits mining regions, knows the situation and suggests effective measures for the development of the industry and improvement of the working conditions in mining,” Neverov said. “It is not accidental that the present situation in the coal industry complex now differs radically from what it was in the 90s, when miners unable to support their families had to go to Moscow to strike in pursuit of justice,” he said.