Dust from the landfill of the Pljevlja thermal power plant on Maljevac in Montenegro is suffocating the city and surrounding villages

The thermal power plant received an integrated permit two years ago and is obliged to prevent environmental pollution and maintain a sufficient surface layer of water at the landfill and executive phase reclamation of the Maljevac landfill, in the period 2018-2024. The Maljevac landfill is only a hundred meters away from the nearest houses. Due to non-compliance with the obligation to maintain the landfill, the Environmental Inspectorate has repeatedly filed excessive reports against those responsible at the thermal power plant.

Clouds of dust, which are blown away by a strong wind from the ash and slag landfill of the Pljevlja thermal power plant on Maljevac, cover the surrounding villages for several days, and dust particles end up in the city center. Locals say that their farms and gardens are severely damaged.

One of the locals said that large amounts of dust had covered the nearby properties before, but that now it “exceeded every measure”.

“Every day is terrible, but now this has exceeded every measure. The whole village is covered with dust. This is impossible to endure anymore “, said one of the residents of Gornji Komin.

He claims that there is no so-called water mirror on Maljevac, and that works on the landfill are performed every day. They also say that Elektroprivreda removed part of the land from the recently expropriated properties, which further worsened the situation.

“I don’t know who will compensate the farmers for the damage caused by this environmental catastrophe. Nobody did anything to protect the locals who are poisoned by dust from Maljevac. “No one is announcing to at least warn parents not to take their children outside, to close doors and windows in order to save children from this situation, until at least the wind that carries clouds of dust calms down,” said the locals.

Elektroprivreda Crne Gore will allocate over 7.7 million euros for the expropriation of real estate of the inhabitants of the village of Zbljevo, which is necessary due to the expansion of the landfill where ash and slag from the thermal power plant Pljevlja are deposited. The procedure has been completed for most of the locals, and some of them have already left their homes.

Source: vijesti.me

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