Since September 30, when TV Vijesti na Morača in the village of Grbavci found illegal gravel exploiters, nothing has changed. Gravel is still being extracted illegally, authorities in the government are forming commissions, filing reports and calling on the police and the prosecutor's office to respond adequately, while ecologists say that the situation has long been alarming and that someone must be held accountable for this ecocide.
When that will happen, no one can say.
Journalist of the PCNEN portal Vuk Vujisić said that illegal activities did not stop at any time, even though the moratorium on gravel extraction is in force.
"The Bolje Sestre water source and the Regional Water Supply, which cost the state more than 100 million euros, are still threatened, and let's see that for now the institutions are doing nothing, but I hope that in the coming period the institutions will take some measures to prevent this ecocide ", he said.
At the beginning of this week, the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management, Aleksandar Stijović, called the situation in Morača an ecological and economic disaster in Colors of the Morning and announced further steps.
"We believe that this is one of the biggest problems that Montenegro has. The level of Morača has dropped several meters, the wells have fallen five meters. In the coming days, expect us to inform the public. How much damage has been caused to the state, who are the legal entities that worked the most abuse," Stijović said then.
The new director of the Water Administration, Vesna Bajović, stated in a written reply to Television Vijesti that since the introduction of the moratorium in 2017, the Administration has not issued a single concession for the exploitation of river sediment, and that illegal exploitation can only be prevented with a coordinated approach, with the help of the police and the prosecution.
The Ministry of Ecology is also in the network of state institutions that should deal with this problem, where they say that 15 criminal charges have already been filed.
"Now everything is a matter for the Prosecutor's Office, so a strong reaction must be made here, if the practice is that they are punished only for misdemeanors, those are fines that are very small, he can pay that fine with that one truck, then we won't achieve anything. To sanction all those who, with their non-negotiable behavior, we can also say corrupt actions, brought us to the state we have today as far as the source of Bolje sestre is concerned," said the Director of the Directorate for Ecology, Dušan Bugarin.
When asked if he believes that anyone will ever be held accountable for all of this, Vujisić points out that it would be sad if they were not held accountable.
"It would be sad if the citizens were to pay those millions out of their own pockets again for rehabilitation, without anyone being held accountable, and having previously gained multi-million benefits," he believes.
Environmentalists say that the red light has been on for a long time.
"If the officials are aware of this danger, then any further digging and extraction of sand and gravel should be stopped immediately, we don't need any commissions to consider things, we can see through the Internet, from satellites you can see what is being done, even if we don't go there Someone needs to bear responsibility, primarily someone who led institutions such as the previous Ministry of Agriculture and the previous Water Administration," Vuk Iković from the NGO KOD points out.
The story of how devastated rivers and riverbeds will be rehabilitated and how much it will cost is yet to be revealed. As always, citizens will pay from the budget.
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