Existing shortfalls are to be removed before January 1.

(Kazan, July 15, Tatar-inform, Natalia Rybakova). Ensuring safety at transport facilities in Tatarstan before the Universiade 2013 sporting event was the subject discussed by a Tatarstan Transport and Road Facilities Ministry extended staff meeting today.

Attendees were the Tatarstan first deputy prime minister Ravil Muratov, transport and road facilities minister Lenar Safin, Security Council secretary Valery Vlasov, State Council committee chairman Marat Galeev, and others.

The issue is quite relevant, said the federal security service Tatarstan branch deputy chief Viktor Gavrilov, since public transportation facilities are most vulnerable in regards to terror attacks. The recent terror acts in the Moscow metro and air transport are evidence to this, he said.

The federal law On Transport Safety from 2007 has provided a legal framework on the subject. To implement the law, Russian President on March 31, 2010, decreed to build an integrated public transport safety system. The Universiade federal operative staff on July 13 held a meeting in Moscow, the speaker said, highlighting unresolved issues pertaining to the transport infrastructure’s vulnerability.

Many public facilities are at the moment unprotected due to a lack of funding. They include railways, underground passages, bridges and some other crucial sites.

“These are just comments on artificial facilities. The meeting made a whole range of other remarks as well. As a result, the decision was made to take related measures before January 1,” Gavrilov said.

There are quite a few issues regarding transport safety, he continued. “No conceptual decisions have so far been made on providing public transportation safety during the preparation for and holding of Universiade. There is only the organisational decision to set up a Universiade transport directorate branch in Tatarstan,” Gavrilov said.
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