The regional environmental organization Green Action demands that the authorities urgently stop the illegal operation of the boiler house on Skerlićeva Street in Pljevlja and initiate appropriate proceedings against those responsible for annulling the decision of the environmental inspector.
"After the end of the heating season and the temporary shutdown of the boiler house in Skerlićeva Street in Pljevlja, the bitter taste of the defeat of the law and the humiliation of the citizens of this city remains. The heating problem has not been solved, nor has the pollution that this boiler house has been producing for years. The absurdity reaches its peak when the 'Grijanje' company publicly announces that they have given up on installing filters because they 'hope' for district heating. So, hope has become the official strategy. At the same time, everyone knows that there will be no district heating by the beginning of the next heating season. The question arises whether another illegal heating from the boiler house in Skerlićeva is being planned in advance, and next winter? If so, this must be spoken of as open preparation for a conscious violation of the law and the constitutional order of Montenegro," the Green Action statement states.
The statement added that authorities, from local to state level, "together with polluters, have been covering up the truth for years, ignoring the laws and refusing to implement measures that would preserve the health and dignity of the citizens of Pljevlja."
"This is no longer an administrative problem - it is a complete moral collapse. In a country where the closure of a toxic plant is treated as 'treason', and a law-abiding inspector is exposed to public lynching, the question arises: what kind of society do we live in? We remind you that at the end of last year, an environmental inspector, acting in accordance with the law, made a decision to close a boiler house due to enormous pollution. Instead of institutional support, a brutal campaign against him followed - insults, pressure, media persecution. This case shows how much institutions in Montenegro are captured by party interests and private profits, and how much the law has become a mere formality," the statement reads.
Green Action believes that the Ministry of Ecology, Sustainable Development and Northern Development, by annulling the decision to close the boiler house and approving its continued operation, has not only enabled the continued poisoning of citizens, but is also suspected of serious abuse of official position.
"Minister Ćulafić's decision is not legally based, it is legal nonsense, without any argumentation and without regard for the health and lives of the citizens of Pljevlja. This is a textbook example of institutional violence against the people and an obvious abuse of the law. Instead of being at the service of citizens, state institutions are increasingly resembling the extended arm of party cartels and pollution lobbies. According to data from the World Health Organization, as many as 22 percent of all deaths in Pljevlja can be linked to air pollution. That is 260 lives lost annually. Each of these deaths is an indictment against the system that protects polluters, not its own citizens. We demand that the competent institutions urgently stop the illegal operation of the boiler house in Skerlićeva Street, initiate appropriate proceedings against those responsible for annulling the decision of the Environmental Inspector, present to the public a clear heating plan for the next season, which will not include illegal solutions, and provide assistance to the citizens of Pljevlja, who are already living with the consequences of decades of poisoning," Green Action points out.
This non-governmental organization says that they will not remain silent in the face of injustice.
"We will not accept that the law applies only to the weak, while the powerful trample on the Constitution, applicable laws, and the health of the people. Pljevlja is no one's backyard or a testing ground for experimentation and endurance testing - this is a city where people live, not statistics," the statement concludes.
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