The Legislative Duma of Tomsk Oblast
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PAINS OF CHANGE
The Oblast Duma deputies created a work group to consider all pros and cons of changing the time zone of Tomsk Oblast to MSK+4 (sixth time zone).
The group will consist of the Oblast Duma deputies, Oblast Administration officials, representatives of the Tomsk State University, Siberian State Medical Unviersity, Research Institute for Mental Health, Research Institute of Cardiology, and the Council of Municipal Entities of Tomsk Oblast.
Tomsk Oblast Duma Speaker Oksana Kozlovskaya told the journalists that the work group will work for the next few months to develop an aligned position of the region and decide whether to submit a legislation initiative to the Russian State Duma which is the only state body that is authorized to amend the federal law On time.
“Over the last week the Duma website received more than 120 messages supporting the change and 6,500 people signed a petition on the change.org website. At the same time, the Duma is receiving many objections from the people of Tomsk, Seversk and Oblast districts. So far, proponents outweigh the opponents.”
Head of the Legislation Committee Vladimir Kravchenko said that the Council of Municipal Entities for the most part supports the change because in many districts of the Oblast people complain that daylight hours end too early – at 5 pm.
“It is important for rural communities. They work on farms, grow vegetables, pick wild mushrooms and berries. We are losing two hours of valuable daylight today.”
Oleg Gromov agrees.
“We live in extreme conditions. Summer is short, rains fall in September, it gets dark early in October. Then comes long winter and freezing temperatures, spring comes late. It puts too much stress on people, which is not acceptable. We must bring back the daylight.”
Duma deputy Lev Pichurin says, “The Ob divides Tomsk Oblast into two parts. The western bank naturally prefers the 3 hour difference with Moscow. The eastern bank prefers the 4 hours difference. It is unreasonable to establish two time zones within one region. The decision should be made in favor of the eastern part because much more people live there than in the west.”
Deputy Boris Maltsev recalls that 13 years ago (before abolition of daylight saving time) Tomsk Oblast moved to the fifth time zone. Initially, in 2003 the Oblast Duma introduced to the State Duma a bill On introducing zone time in the Russian Federation. The bill was supported by scientific data on the negative impact of desynchronization on circadian rhythms in humans. It was discussed during parliamentary hearings and a decision was made to change Tomsk Oblast to the fifth time zone and submit a legislative initiative to the Russian State Duma On introducing zone time in the Russian Federation. The first decision was successfully implemented.
“Thirteen years ago Tomsk Oblast made a right decision and we lived happily until Moscow decided to stop moving clock hands once and forever. They should have switched us to the summer time mode but instead they kept us in the winter time mode. I think we should not hurry to change time zones.”
Experts should discuss and give recommendations regarding time zone change for the region. The work group will determine the region’s position and submit their conclusions to the Oblast Duma who will further decide whether to submit a legislative initiative to the State Duma.
