MOSCOW. Feb 20 (Interfax-AVN) - Members of the State Duma lower house of parliament on Thursday expressed their concern with lack of progress in implementing the law "Concerning Alternative Civil Service."
"Preparations for implementing the law is progressing at such a pace that the beginning of alternative civil service can never take place and the idea can be discredited," Andrei Nikolayev, chairman of the State Duma defense committee, told parliamentary hearings.
"Military commissioner's offices were waiting for the law "Concerning Alternative Civil Service" to be adopted and finally provide for realizing citizens' constitutional right to alternative service," Major General Gennady Batyuk, military commissioner of the Smolensk region, said.
"Given that only 10 months remain until the law takes effect, it is necessary to analyze its provisions thoroughly once again," he stressed.
"There are gaps and contradictions in the law, and they may cause new problems, that is why they must be fixed before the law comes into force," the military commissioner went on. In particular, he stressed that the law provides for the day of the citizen's departure for the place of alternative service to be the date of beginning the service. However the law does not determine organizations that are to register people's arrival for alternative service. This will allow unscrupulous persons to dodge alternative service, Batyuk said.
Moreover, "the law does not determine the organization in control over alternative service," he stressed.