Citizens of the Lozna Local Community near Bijelo Polje blocked the BIjelo Polje-Berane main road in the town of Srđevac for half an hour today at noon.
They said that they stand by their request to terminate the contract for the construction of a quarry in the Poda area with the concessionaire, the company "Imperial", owned by Vojislav Smolović, brother of the President of the Municipality of Bijelo Polje, Petar Smolović.
The locals recalled that their rights have been violated for many years by the Ministry of Mining and the Municipality of Bijelo Polje, stating that the violation of that right was recently established by the Protector of Human Rights and Freedoms, who stated in his Opinion that the Ministry of Mining and the Municipality of Bijelo Polje violated the right of citizens to a healthy environment, and that they violated the basic standards of public participation in the process of granting concessions for the exploitation of technical and construction stone.
"The Ombudsman believes that the Municipality of Bijelo Polje also had an obligation to inform the citizens of the Lozna Local Community of the planned exploitation in a timely manner, which the Municipality, according to the citizens, did not do, which is why the citizens only learned that exploitation was planned in their village when they saw that the machines had entered the field," the Ombudsman stated.
Amela Dervišević said that it is still unknown who allowed the concession act on the forest area to be adopted.
"According to the Spatial and Urban Plan of the Municipality of Bijelo Polje, cadastral plot 882/11 KO Poda belongs to the zone planned as forest land. We want to know who allowed the adoption of the concession act for the exploitation of technical and construction stone on the forest land," said Dervišević.
Esmin Hasanagić reminded that citizens were not invited to the public debate on the concession act, which lasted from April 15 to May 18, 2020.
"It was organized without a round table due to the coronavirus pandemic, as well as during the Easter and May Day holidays. The Protector also determined that the Ministry of Mining was obliged to publish a call for a public hearing on the e-government portal, which the Ministry did not do. Due to all of the above, the Protector determined that this approach limited the right of citizens to be informed," Hasanagić pointed out.
Locals noted that the Geological Survey issued a permit to the concessionaire to work on the main mining project, contrary to the law.
"Specifically, Article 53 of the Mining Law stipulates that it is necessary to submit the consent of a state authority for the Environmental Impact Assessment Study with the request for approval. The concessionaire did not submit the consent of a state authority, but of a local authority, and the Institute issued the approval based on that. We expect the Ministry of Mining to repeat the procedure and cancel the given approval under an urgent procedure," Hasanagić emphasized.
According to locals, the Secretariat for Rural and Sustainable Development declared itself responsible for the environmental impact assessment procedure for a specific mineral exploitation project, citizens were informed about the public hearing regarding the Study after it had ended, they were never provided with a report on the reasons for rejecting citizens' objections, nor was it ever prepared by the Secretariat, although there is a legal obligation to do so, while the Secretariat kept the final version of the Study secret from citizens for a year.
They add that they expect the Basic State Prosecutor's Office in Bijelo Polje to file an indictment against the Secretariat and the responsible person in that body, and that, otherwise, they will continue their fight before the Higher State Prosecutor's Office.
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