On February 22, Vitebsk / Diana Kurilo - BELTA /. Over the month of the law "On Citizens' and Legal Entities' Appeals" being in effect, the Vitebsk Regional Executive Committee has received 33 electronic appeals, Svetlana Stankevich, Deputy Head of the Department for Work with Citizens' and Legal Entities' Appeals of the Vitebsk Regional Executive Committee, told a BELTA correspondent. For substantive consideration, 16 electronic appeals have been forwarded to district and city executive committees or to departments and administrations of the regional executive committee, while 17 have been kept under control at the regional executive committee. Applicants will receive responses to all appeals either by e-mail or in writing, depending on the citizens' preferences. The new communication channel with government bodies is most actively used by residents of Vitebsk, Polotsk, Novopolotsk, Orsha, Tolochin, Vitebsk and Sharkovshchyna districts. The regional executive committee has also received appeals from citizens of the Russian Federation. These appeals include requests for assistance in locating the graves of relatives who died and were buried in the region during the Great Patriotic War. Speaking about the structure and nature of the received appeals, Svetlana Stankevich noted that they generally do not differ from the structure of written appeals. Citizens are concerned about issues related to housing relations, construction, transport services, housing and communal services, social security, trade, and healthcare. She also noted that the implementation of the law in practice has not caused difficulties for the executive committee staff. This was largely facilitated by training conducted by both specialists of the regional executive committee and representatives of republican bodies. The regional executive committee is implementing an action plan for the law's implementation, in accordance with which normative legal acts of local authorities have been brought into compliance, and amendments have been made to contracts with civil servants. One of the innovations of the "Law on Citizens' and Legal Entities' Appeals" is the possibility of recovering from the applicant the expenses incurred in connection with the abuse of their right to appeal, systematic submission of unfounded appeals, and dissemination of false information. As Svetlana Stankevich noted, officials have not yet exercised this right of recovery, but when a citizen appeals, they invariably explain these provisions of the law to them. From January 22 to February 22, the Vitebsk Regional Executive Committee received 349 appeals from citizens. Last year, 355 appeals were recorded during the same period. -0-

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