Following a meeting of the Municipal Emergency Team, which was dedicated to the alarming air pollution in Pljevlja, local authorities and health workers warned that the city is facing the most serious environmental crisis since air quality measurements began.
The President of the Municipality of Pljevlja, Dario Vraneš, said that the Municipality was contacted by the Environmental Protection Agency, whose director, Milan Gazdić, confirmed that the main cause of the current pollution is the Pljevlja Thermal Power Plant.
"Yesterday's meteorological situation further worsened the situation - thick fog rose high, so that the thermal power plant's chimney remained below that layer, and the desulfurization system has still not been put into operation. This means that the thermal power plant started operating without desulfurization, and this is the main cause of this pollution," said Vraneš.
He called on the Electric Power Industry of Montenegro (EPCG) to, as he emphasized, "urgently stop the experiments on the citizens of Pljevlja", emphasizing that the situation in the city is unbearable.
"Hospitals and dispensaries are full of children. We have children only 15 days old who are on ventilators, some have been sent to Podgorica, and one child ended up in intensive care. I call on EPCG to urgently get involved and solve this problem," said the Mayor.
Vranes added that, if it is determined that individual furnaces also contribute significantly to pollution, the Municipality will ask the Government and relevant ministries to completely exempt the citizens of Pljevlja from paying for electricity during the heating season and winter period.
"The people of Pljevlja must show resistance to the state's discriminatory attitude towards this city that has lasted for decades. Here, the lives and health of citizens come first and we will not back down from anyone's demands that are not in the interests of Pljevlja. We will insist on respecting the law because the health of citizens and the interests of Pljevlja are above all else," Vraneš emphasized.
EPCG, he said, verbally stated that the Thermal Power Plant was not the cause of the pollution, but the Municipality is demanding that professional services officially state this.
Biljana Čarkinović, an epidemiologist at the Pljevlja Health Center, warned that such high levels of pollution favor the spread of viral infections, as spaces cannot be ventilated, and that the number of people suffering from flu and other infectious diseases is increasing in Pljevlja. She suggested considering temporarily suspending classes during extreme pollution, as well as donating air purifiers to schools and kindergartens, including gyms.
Team member Dana Krezović requested that the Pljevlja Thermal Power Plant suspend operations while this state of pollution persists.
"There has never been a situation like this regarding exceeding the warning threshold for sulfur dioxide. I think it is an alarming situation considering that the meteorological situation will be similar in the coming days. Considering that we have seen that the thermal power plant is the biggest culprit and that the thermal power plant chimney is in fog, that is, there is a deep inversion layer, I would appeal to EPCG to stop operating the thermal power plant while this situation is in Pljevlja because there is a possibility, as it happened a long time ago in London that there were deaths when concentrations began to rise, so I am afraid that such a situation could occur here as well," said Krezović, an employee of the municipal Environmental Protection Service.
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Pediatrician Dr. Maja Terzić presented particularly worrying data about the situation in healthcare institutions.
"The youngest children are getting sick, from two to three months old. Babies as young as 15 days old need hospitalization, and some have been referred to Podgorica. We believe that the combination of extreme pollution and the presence of the virus has further complicated the clinical picture. The ward is overcrowded, about 50 percent of the children are on oxygen, and it is a day and night struggle," said Terzić, urging that all available measures be urgently taken to stop the pollution.
The municipal emergency team announced that in the coming hours it will propose specific behavioral measures for the population, with a special focus on vulnerable categories - children, the elderly and the chronically ill.
The Mayor said that it is indicative that the air quality monitoring station in Pljevlja is being serviced these days and that at this moment not all relevant data on PM10 and PM 2,5 particle pollution is available.
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