Dragićević: Ćulafić must be removed, the collector construction project is undermining

Civic and environmental activist Aleksandar Dragićević believes that the Minister of Ecology, Sustainable Development and Northern Development, Damjan Ćulafić (Democrats), must be urgently dismissed, "perhaps even at the next session of the Parliament."

He accused Ćulafić of "undermining" the project to build a wastewater treatment plant in Botun.

"What fell on us from the civil sector, the mayor and a few local officials was all his job. To educate and explain and organize meetings and fight so that we don't lose 10 years and 100 million. He decided to publicly and secretly undermine the entire project and that's why he must leave urgently," Dragićević wrote on Facebook.

He said that his activism did not cost the state a single euro, as "MPs, redundant ministers, secretaries, directors and others" do.

"I have never asked for anything from the state, and I have received the greatest honor - to serve. And I serve the best I know how. Writing on social networks and media statements are less than 5% of my activities. I do not write projects and I have no funding, I have decided to dedicate my free time to Montenegro, and if I had more - I would give it more. But I have results and that hurts many. My results are dozens of free rivers, hundreds of thousands of preserved trees, natural resources saved from devastation, thousands of animals, who knows how many fish and dozens of blocked bad projects for the benefit of the public interest and the local community. And that did not cost the state a single euro, as it does for MPs, redundant ministers, secretaries, directors and others. I spend a lot of time in the field, there is no citizen who has turned to me for help without me helping them or telling them where to seek help. There is no corner of Montenegro that I have not entered to fight against a scythe, an excavator or a gun," said Dragićević.

He said he never enters a fight until he has gathered all the necessary information, consulted with experts, and is "sure that the fight is right."

Dozens or hundreds of hours of study, he adds, precede every initiative, because he refuses to talk or make statements on a topic he doesn't know enough about, and always refers to someone who knows more. This is best known, he said, by the dozens of journalists he works with every day.

"I see politicians as a tool for achieving a goal and a vision that I think is right. When they are doing well, I say so and highlight positive examples, when they are not doing well, I try to exhaust all possibilities and explain before I launch a public campaign. And when I launch, that's the end, I don't make compromises and I don't back down. And many politicians know that very well. And unlike politicians, I don't have to calculate and defend thieves, incompetent and corrupt people - and they know that and it hurts them, because they too would sometimes back down, tell someone that they are right and do something for the public interest, but for them the party comes first - for me the state, citizens and public interest. That's where most conflicts with politicians come from," he believes.

He says that in the past two and a half years he has had 80 field days in Zeta alone: ​​illegal gravel mining, waste burning, illegal waste disposal, poaching on land, poaching on water...

"While I advocated for the gravel pits to be driven out of Morača, most politicians from Zeta (a big honor to exceptions like Zoran Lakušić) had more pressing matters, party employment, 'high' politics and so on. Because it is not popular to resent neighbors, voters and financiers. The same is true with poaching in Morača and Lake Skadar, 80% of poachers are from Zeta, the rest are from Tuzi and Cetinje. These are first and foremost voters and then devastators. And local politicians turned a blind eye to that and remained silent. I don't look at whether something is popular or unpopular and who will condemn it. I look at whether it is good or bad for Montenegro, its citizens, nature and future and I act accordingly. And no one will ever stop me from doing that. No lies, threats and pressures," said Dragićević.

He believes that his position regarding the plant in Botun is absolutely correct, because behind that position are dozens of experts, doctors of science, and the need to protect the Morača River, Lake Skadar, and "the people of Zeća from pollution and on their own."

"Screaming and shouting, threats, spite and ignorance will not change that attitude and that need, nor will I retreat. I have not retreated even to those who are much stronger and more dangerous. Let's go even stronger for Montenegro and a better future," Dragićević wrote.

He thanked the police for their support after filing a police report against Democratic People's Party leader Milan Knežević yesterday, stating that he felt threatened by his statements at the protest in Botun.