The heads of administration in cities damaged by forest fires must resign because they have lost people’s trust, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said during a surprise visit to the Nizhni Novgorod Region on Friday.
According to the law-enforcement agencies, 505 homes have burned down in the region. The residents of the Verkhnyaya Vereya, a village that burned down, told Putin the local authorities failed to organize and coordinate fire-fighting efforts.
The prime minister said new homes for the fire victims would be built by winter. Each house will cost approximately 3 million rubles ($100,000), with 2 million rubles spent on house reconstruction and 1 million on gas, water and electricity supply.
The regional authorities must provide temporary residence, meals and clothing for people left homeless by the fires and allocate 10,000 rubles ($330) to each person to cover their expenses.
Fires are burning in many Russian regions because of a drought. The hardest hit are the Voronezh, Nizhni Novgorod, Vladimir, Ryazan and Moscow Regions.