After decades of illegal exploitation of gravel, on the banks of Morača and Cijevna there are almost no machines from large construction companies.
However, despite the decisive action of the Government a few months ago and under the pressure of environmental activists, some exploiters are still not giving up.
Environmental activist and journalist Vuk Vujisić, who during a tour of the field was convinced that large construction companies now really respect the ban on exploitation, believes that even sporadic cases will soon be processed.
"They need to know that there are videos, that they were recorded and that they will be held accountable for that, but those people from the institutions that cover them will also be held accountable. "Morači, they started somewhere on the night of the elections and now they have slowly gotten used to it, so they work in this area almost every night," Vujisić told Television Vijesti.
Vujisić claims that, above all, it is a question of family companies that illegally extract gravel under the protection of some parties of the current government, which, he announces, will soon be announced. The police, who visit the area almost every day, claim that they have not come across any illegal activities in the riverbeds for some time, but where they are suspected, the inspection is responsible.
"In the last event we had, on a private plot, the owner of the plot was given a decision to rehabilitate the land, to rehabilitate and return the land to its original form. In this particular case, our hands are tied because the person has the decision. Now, the competent authorities should inspection to control the actions according to that decision, i.e. whether the person is working on land remediation or continues to excavate gravel," Marko Vukićević from the Police Administration told TV Vijesti.
Vukićević adds that the successful prevention of illegal exploitation is evidenced by the fact that the import of gravel from Albania has intensified in recent months, which was not the case before.
In the meantime, while waiting for the exploiters and corrupt officials of the system to be held responsible for the devastation of the rivers, the Regional Water Supply is preparing for the rehabilitation of the riverbeds from which the source of Boljesestre, which supplies water to the Montenegrin coast, is fed.
"It is a project that will try to raise the level of Morača. To raise that yield from two thousand and something liters per second, after all this story to drop it to literally 300 liters per second, that would affect the economy of a household, not on the economy of the state of Montenegro," said Goran Đukanović from the Regional Waterworks.
Đukanović, however, points out that this is an extremely expensive project. Vujisić, on the other hand, believes that this money can be provided by charging damages to companies that profited by destroying nature.
"Persons who caused this damage can face up to eight years in prison and are obliged to compensate for the damage they caused to the environment."
And when it comes to those responsible, the Basic Prosecutor's Office in Podgorica has so far opened 20 cases related to the illegal exploitation of gravel. In their response to Vijesti Television, they indicate that since the last police action, six cases have been formed, three of which are in the investigation phase, in one case the criminal complaint was dismissed, while in two cases an indictment was filed.
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