The grit that was unloaded at Straševina and below Trebjesa is waste from "Porta Montenegro", from the former "Arsenal", which was deposited in Bijela.
This was announced by the representative of the Ministry of Ecology, Ivan Stanišić, at a meeting that the President of the Municipality, Marko Kovačević, organized with the representatives of the residents of the mentioned two settlements, as well as with the representatives of the relevant institutions - the Ministry of Ecology, the Directorate for Inspection Affairs and the Environmental Protection Agency.
He added that it is a non-hazardous material.
"The company 'MM Syistem', which has two permits for processing since then, bought that waste from 'Valga Montenegro'. This is waste from 'Porta Montenegro', from the former 'Arsenal', which was located in Bijela", said Stanišić.
At the meeting, it was decided that if the waste deposited on private properties in the Nikšić settlement of Straševina, as well as on the land owned by the Railway Infrastructure of Montenegro, and on the land below Trebjesa, which is owned by the state and given to the Municipality of Nikšić for use, in is not taken out of Nikšić within ten days, the residents of Straševina and Kličevo will block the Nikšić-Podgorica main road, near the Budoš tunnel.
Blockages will be daily and their duration will increase day by day.
The Directorate for Inspection Affairs ordered the company "MM System", which deposited waste at disputed locations, to remove it to another location within 15 days.
As the second location, for which the mentioned company received a decision, is also located in Nikšić, the locals, as well as the mayor of the municipality, demand that the waste, which the Center for Ecotoxicological Testing (CETI) determined to be harmless and that it is small the granular material, which they assume is the used grit, was moved outside of Nikšić.
"We are not satisfied with the meeting, because we did not receive answers to certain questions that we have been asking since the very beginning - whether the waste should have ended up in Nikšić or at another location. The joint conclusion of the President of the Municipality and us residents is that we will allow the solution to be implemented, that the waste from Nikšić is exported from Nikšić, to be returned to the location in Bijelo or some other location, just to be removed from Nikšić, so that we are not loaded with waste anymore night, but every night we go to block the road and we will increase the time of the block", said Milan Nikčević after the two-hour meeting on behalf of the locals.
The representative of the Ministry of Ecology, Ivan Stanišić, said during the meeting that it was grit and that it was a non-hazardous material.
"The company 'MM Syistem', which has two permits for processing since then, bought that waste from 'Valga Montenegro'. This is waste from 'Porta Montenegro', from the former 'Arsenal', which was located in Bijela", said Stanišić.
The representatives of other institutions also reiterated that it is a non-hazardous material, and that the question of disposal on land for which the company "MM System" did not have a permit is within the jurisdiction of the prosecution, which initiated the investigation.
Kovačević said that the storage of waste at the location below Trebjesa was done without their knowledge, and that they had no information that anything was being dumped at that location.
Because of this, the Municipal Police filed a criminal complaint with the Basic State Prosecutor's Office (ODT), which they ask to determine who and on whose order disposed of the waste both at the mentioned location, as well as in Straševina and Kličevo.
"We have a suspicion that there are certain political interests behind it that want to harm this local self-government, which has tackled all these problems and which had no knowledge of what was happening in other locations. We want to find out who is behind this, which company, because that way we will know who did all this and why. We know who has certain political interests to make certain things look this way or that way. We see in this, not only a desire to endanger the ecological image of the city, but a desire for someone to create such an image that there is ecological chaos in Nikšić", Kovačević said, among other things.
He emphasized that the Municipality will request a revision of the approval for the location under number 3808, which the Environmental Protection Agency issued to the company "MM System", which intends to move the waste to the mentioned location, because the locals expressed doubts about the regularity of the permit for that new location.
He pointed out that the company "MM System" has lost trust due to the procedures and the manner in which the waste disposal story was handled, so they are asking that the same, in accordance with the decision of the Administration for Inspection Affairs, where there is a possibility to have it in another location with the appropriate move that waste with documentation, and do it.
"We are asking for that location to be outside Nikšić. These are the demands of us and the locals," said Kovačević.
"We hope that the competent institutions will respond to our report in order to determine all the circumstances in relation to this case. We received assurances that it was non-hazardous waste, as the findings of CETI showed, and we, as the Municipality of Nikšić, cannot understand the motives of that company to dispose of such waste on private land, in a populated place, and at the same time, they have a location where by law they can do it. Those motives are unclear to us, and we would like to see all of that determined in future proceedings," said the President of the Municipality.
The assistant director of the Directorate for Inspection Affairs, Darko Rašović, said that the institution did everything within its competence and according to the shortest procedures.
"A colleague, the inspector, was here for three or four days in a row. Samples were taken from CETI, and it was determined that it was non-hazardous waste. The company 'MM System' is registered in the register of waste transporters, it also has approval for the location 3808KO Nikšić for temporary disposal and processing of waste. What happened is that they usurped certain areas that are owned by citizens, owned by the Municipality and the Railway Infrastructure. The inspector issued a decision on waste removal, the shortest possible deadline is 15 days, and non-execution of the decision has certain sanctions. The inspection will follow the further procedure," Rašović pointed out.
Locals were interested in why this waste was not deposited in a closer location, if it was already non-hazardous, and they pointed out that in earlier cases, which refer to the asphalt base, waste in the Gračanica river and the illegal landfill in Mislov do, they were dissatisfied with the actions of the competent institutions .
"I was in the army at 'Arsenal' and I was sandblasting. We worked with masks and in cosmonaut suits, so I wonder if grit is harmless, why were we dressed like that", said one of the locals.
The representatives of the competent institutions explained that the material deposited in Straševina and under Trebjes can be used as a construction additive in a ratio of 70:30, mixed with other construction materials, for the installation of buffers, curbs, and road filling.
About five tons of material brought from Bijela was unloaded in Straševina. Due to disputed waste, the locals blocked the Budoš tunnel for several days, and the blockade was postponed after Kovačević scheduled a meeting with representatives of the relevant institutions.
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