On May 15th, the deadline expired for the Ministry of Ecology to postpone the decision of the environmental inspector to ban the operation of the boiler house in Skerlićeva Street due to high air pollution. The boiler house in Skerlićeva Street heats apartments and business premises in the city center.
This year's heating season ended in April.
With the expiration of the deadline, the decision of December 30th of last year, by which the environmental inspection banned the operation of the boiler house, came into force again, until the pollution level was reduced to legal limits.
Environmental inspector Velibor Kljajević Back in April last year, the municipality ordered the municipal company "Grijanje" to take appropriate technical measures to reduce pollution by September 15th, or else it would ban its operation.
"Grijanje" requested additional time to complete the work on installing a multicyclone, a device that is supposed to reduce pollution.
Director of “Heating” Vlado Tošić expects that the boiler room will be able to operate during the next heating season, and that until then the company will do everything to further reduce air pollution. He recalls that last year new multicyclones, or flue gas purifiers, were installed, which led to a reduction in pollution. They plan to install flue gas fans during the summer and prepare the boilers as best as possible in order to further reduce pollution.
He said that they have given up on installing bag filters, which would have minimized the emission of particulate matter, because it is a project that would require obtaining a building permit and could not be completed until next season.
He reminds that the completion of the district heating project has been announced for next year, when the boiler room in Skerlićeva will be closed and converted into a substation, along with other larger boiler rooms in the city.
"I hope that all of this will be taken into account, because in the event of the boiler house being closed, we would lose the entire secondary network, worth several million euros, because the pipes would corrode, and users would turn to alternative heating sources, which would jeopardize the initiated district heating project of Pljevlja in the long term, because in that case it would be difficult to return them to this type of heating," said Tošić.
The tenants of the building housing the city's boiler house are demanding that the boiler house be moved out of their building immediately. They have also announced that they will file a lawsuit against those responsible if it continues to operate.
"The authorities are not commenting even though the environmental inspector's decision banning the boiler room has come into effect," said one of the building's tenants. Marko Dajevic.
He claims that the plant in their building is not a boiler room but a heating plant, considering that its power is six megawatts, while boiler rooms are up to one megawatt.
"Many residents have suffered from severe lung diseases, cardiovascular diseases, and many cases of cancer. Our children sleep above boilers of enormous power and all the fumes enter our apartments. All residents signed a petition to relocate the heating plant last year, no one has done anything. What they are doing is a crime. According to the law, in the case of public interest, you can allow them to work for a maximum of two months and then permanently close the facility, there are much better and more cost-effective solutions. Criminal charges are being filed against those responsible. I hope that the relevant ministry and the government will help us put an end to these actions that are unthinkable in a normal world. This problem is not new. Every year they promise us and ask us for patience. This time we will not give up," said Dajević.
He said that he would also contact the housing inspectorate, given that the boiler room is located in an apartment building, which he claims is contrary to the law.
"I'm sorry that this government didn't listen and save the lives and health of citizens," said Dajević.
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