The merger of the urban districts of Protvino and Pushchino, which have the status of scientific cities, with the urban district of Serpukhov will not lead to the loss of their status of scientific cities, Sergey Kabyshev, Chairman of the Duma Committee on Science and Higher Education State Education, said on February 7, citing a response from the Ministry of Education.
“The merger of Protvino, Pushchino and Serpukhov presupposes the succession of the status of the city of science”– Kabyshev wrote, citing his own account of the response of the Ministry of Education.
The parliamentarian stressed that the request was sent to the ministry after appeals from private citizens and public bodies. “Taking into account the exceptional importance of creating conditions for the most effective implementation of the strategic tasks of the scientific and technological development of the Russian Federation and the lack of an established practice for solving the problem of the status of a scientific city during municipal- transformations territorial, I asked the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation to present legal certainty in this matter in connection with the consolidation of urban districts on the territory of the Moscow region “– Kabyshev said in a message.
According to the position expressed in the message, the law “On the Status of the City of Sciences of the Russian Federation” does not contain norms determining the change in the status of the city of sciences after changes in its territorial status. , but the status is not cancelled. Therefore, according to the ministry, both scientific cities will retain their status for the period stipulated by the decisions of the government of the Russian Federation, that is, for 15 years from the date of assignment of this status. It was awarded to Pushchino in 2017 and to Protvino in 2019.
Kabyshev vowed to maintain parliamentary control “in order to guarantee effective state support to territories with a high concentration of scientific potential”.
Recall that Serpukhov’s deputies proposed to unite Serpukhov with Pushchino and Protvino on December 6, and already on January 26, the Moscow Regional Duma adopted a law on the unification of districts. The residents of the cities of science protested against the unification and insisted on holding a referendum on this issue, but the deputies of the districts considered that a referendum was not necessary.
Public hearings were held, which many citizens were unable to attend due to the small size of the rooms in which the hearings were held. Citizens who did not fit into them were required to follow them in the video feed.
Also read: Association of scientific cities of the Moscow region: why officials are silent
editorial comment
Kabyshev mentions twice in his report the need to achieve efficiency in science cities. However, no calculations were presented during the merger justifying that the new formation of the city, which will include science cities, will be more effective, although the residents of science cities repeatedly requested them. This gives rise to suspicions that the merger was carried out not to increase efficiency, but for other purposes.
Source: Rossa Primavera
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