Locals of Bijedić and the surrounding villages blocked the main road Bijelo Polje - Prijepolje, in the town of Konatari, today at 12.30:XNUMX p.m., outraged by the construction of a quarry in that place, a well-known archeological site from the Neolithic.
They reiterated that they are demanding the termination of the contract that the owner of the company Elas from Bijelo Polje, Šućro Omerović, signed with the Minister of Capital Investments, Ervin Ibrahimović.
They protested for days in that village, by physically preventing the passage of the machines of the company that started the construction of the quarry, on the Neolithic archaeological site, which is about 6.500 years old.
"We appeal to all competent institutions in Montenegro, the economic crime service, to reconsider the hasty decisions by which this company received a concession for the quarry in Bijedići. The residents of Bijedića, Podbrežja, Pećarske, Bjelica will defend the beautiful area with their lives and will not allow the removal of technical stone and the construction of any stone grinding plants, because their lives would be endangered", said Mladen Grebović.
Locals have announced the radicalization of the protest, if their demands are not met.
"Investigate who from the Ministry of Health gave written consent"
Resident of Voljavac and former member of MZ Gubavac Admir Camić told "Vijesti" that in addition to the fact that the quarry is being built near houses, springs, and archaeological sites, it is also being built near the water supply - catchment and pool that supplies MZ Gubavac.
"That's why we, the residents of Voljavac, which belongs to the same MZ, are against the construction of the quarry. The road infrastructure, two bridges, the asphalt road that we have been waiting for decades have been called into question by the operation of that quarry," said Camić.
He pointed out that he was surprised by the silence of the Gubavac Local Community, whose meeting he will seek in order to get a position.
"We believe that the construction could not have started without the written consent of someone from the local community, without discussion and getting to know the citizens of the Gubavac Municipality".
As the representative of the civil initiative "Protect Bijedić", Krsto Tvrdišić, said, the only institution that has reacted so far is the Institute for the Protection of Cultural Property, which issued a decision on the suspension of work on the Neolithic archaeological site, which is about 6.500 years old.
"The contract between the company Elas and the Ministry of Capital Investments envisages the destruction of everything that citizens of Montenegro have the right to guaranteed by the Constitution of Montenegro, namely the right to healthy air, water, nature and a normal life. With this protest, we protect Bijediće, Voljavac, Podbreže, Gubavac, Oluja, as well as other places in the Bistrica area. "We from Bijedić and Bistrica know that we work with a quarry, but we don't want to destroy nature because we have been living with it for centuries," said Trvrišić.
He pointed out that they addressed all competent institutions, which are involved in granting the concession to the company Elas, asking them to reconsider their decisions.
"We demand that the concession contract be terminated and all possible illegalities that led to the signing of the contract be investigated. We ask that the concessionaire repair everything that he destroyed and damaged during the excavation and transportation of stone by trucks, starting with the fence on the bridge over Bistrica, the bridge on the Voljavacka river, the asphalt that was damaged in several places, as well as the macadam road to Bijedić, which after the works started in catastrophic state", said Tvrdišić.
Mladen Grebović said that these are hasty decisions by competent institutions, which should be investigated.
"Locals of Bijedića, Podbrežja, Pećarske, Bjelica will defend the beautiful area with their lives and will not allow the removal of technical stone and the construction of any stone grinding facilities, because their lives would be endangered," said Grebović.
"Quarries in Montenegro sprout like mushrooms after the rain"
The locals' protest was supported by a number of environmental organizations, which, as they point out, want to draw the attention of the state and decision-makers to the fact that such actions are not isolated and that in Montenegro quarries are springing up like mushrooms after the rain, and nobody turns their heads.
Milorad Mitrović said that the company "Elas" received an incredible 1 square meters of concession space on which it should work.
"We visited the site, found baked clay and the remains of clay objects in a length of 300 meters. These are two companies that have been known here for a long period of time for devastating the riverbed of Lima, about a company that removed an outdated technology plant in Zaimovića livada and moved it to Potkrajce, got all the papers for work, for installing that technology and works without necessary permits. She also received an essay that went through that procedure. In question are the two family companies 'Matador' and 'Elas', which treat state wealth, which belongs to the people of Montenegro, in an extremely brazen and rude manner," said Mitrović, adding that there are many other quarries that do not respect the law. .
Mitrović pointed out that the NGO Network has so far filed about 100 misdemeanor charges and that it is high time that someone is held accountable for crimes committed against the environment, and that in an ecological state, which has been known as such for 31 years, and that these things they must change regardless of who will be in power, if we want Montenegro to be in the company of European nations.
"In the series of permits that should be reviewed is the Geodetic Institute, then the granting of a concession on almost two million square meters to a concessionaire in an area where there is an important archaeological site, which is out of mind, as well as the Ministry of Capital Investments and all other institutions that gave opinions and consents ", Mitrović said, adding that it should be investigated who was involved in obtaining consent on behalf of the Gubavac Local Community.
He pointed out that they are investigating the involvement of certain "logistics from the ministries and friends of those companies that gave them permits", adding that everything must be revised and that the responsible people be brought to justice.
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