The tenants of the building in Skerlićeva street in the center of Pljevlja handed over to the mayor Darius Vranes a petition requesting that the city's boiler house, located on the ground floor of their building, be moved.
In addition to Vraneš, as the tenants announced, I will also send the petition to the presidents of the state and government, the Ministry of Energy and Mining and the EU office in Montenegro.
The boiler house in Skerlićeva Street is one of the biggest air polluters in the city, and the tenants of the surrounding buildings have repeatedly announced filing a lawsuit against the Municipality and the company "Grijanje", if they do not solve the problem of enormous pollution. About 350 apartments and a large number of business premises in the city center are heated from the boiler house in Skerlićeva Street, for which, in 16 hours of work, about 11,5 tons of coal are consumed daily.
Fifteen tenants of the building, which has been designated as one of the biggest air polluters in the city center, are asking for the boiler house to be moved to another location, no later than September 1.
In their explanation, they stated that they are exposed to excessive pollution from the low chimney of the boiler house, which is attached to the building, and that the health of the tenants, especially children, is at risk.
"Please note that the boiler house has had a permanent work ban since 2019, brought by the Republic's thermal energy inspector. A lot of tenants have suffered from lung diseases for which there is medical documentation... With these signatures, all the legal conditions and obligations for its shutdown have been met", the tenants stated.
They also point out that the boiler house is not only a threat to them, but also to the entire city center, given that around two thousand tons of coal are exposed in it annually, during the heating season.
The burning of huge amounts of coal leads to enormous air pollution, and some values are 27 times higher than allowed, as stated by the Center for Ecotoxicological Research (CETI) in its earlier tests.
In one of the reports, it is stated that the boiler house emitted powdery substances and carbon monoxide above the tolerance limit, i.e. the permitted excess of 250 percent.
It also says that the average half-hourly values of powdery substances amounted to 502 micrograms per cubic meter, which is almost seventeen times more than the prescribed limit values of 30 micrograms per cubic meter.
Sulfur dioxide was measured at a concentration of about 2.938 micrograms per cubic meter, which is almost three times the prescribed limit of 1000 micrograms. And the average half-hourly concentration of carbon monoxide was 990 micrograms per cubic meter, or more than six and a half times above the prescribed limit value of 150 micrograms.
An excess of nitrogen dioxide was also registered, as well as the average half-hourly value of arsenic...
Thermal energy inspector Slavko Burić in 2011, Rajno banned the use of the boiler room due to endangering the safety and health of people, but that decision was canceled by the Administrative Court for procedural reasons.
He stated that an inspection of the area around the balcony and window openings of the building where the boiler house is located revealed a large presence of coal dust, fly ash and soot on the salt banks and window sills, despite the fact that they were additionally sealed with adhesive tapes and nylons.
Tenants have repeatedly asked those responsible in the Municipality and the company "Grijanje", which manages the city's boiler house, to install filters, or to use a cleaner energy source, not coal, to heat the apartments.
They didn't benefit much from turning to the Environmental Inspection, which they asked to take measures within their jurisdiction.
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