The lawmakers Taras Batenko, Valentyn Didych, Vitaliy Kupriy, Oleksandr Dubinin, Oleksandr Shevchenko, Andriy Denysenko (the representatives of UKROP), as well as the other 11 MPs, have appealed to the authorities and law enforcement agencies. They demand to investigate the causes of the tragedy at Hrybovytske landfill (Lviv region) where three rescuers were found dead and another person is still searched for. The relevant parliamentary inquiry, addressed to the Prime Minister of Ukraine Volodymyr Groysman, Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko and Head of the National Police Khatia Dekanoidze, was read out at the plenary session of the Verkhovna Rada on June 3. MPs also demand to regulate legislation in waste and recycling sector that would prevent such tragedies in the future.
The authors of the document suppose that the tragedy could be caused by the criminal business that is flourishing at the landfill and that fails to be closed by all Lviv mayors: “Impunity, negligence and irresponsibility led to the situation when Hrybovytske landfill became one of the three most dangerous landfills in Europe. It continues to bring quiet death in the nearby villages and took people’s lives during this disaster,” says the document.
Currently, in response to numerous parliamentary inquiries doctors confirm an increasing number of tumors, blood diseases and asthma in children living in the villages close to the landfill. All indicators of drinking water taken at the risk zone are also far from the norm. Despite all these facts garbage sorting is a good earnings for local residents, as the MPs stress. In their opinion, the situation requires legislative regulation, since it is not a unique case in Lviv.
That is why the MPs are going not only to strive for construction of the recycling plant in Lviv region and for reclamation of the lands destroyed by the waste of Hrybovytske landfill, they will also demand that the officials oblige local authorities to build a waste recycling plant with a full cycle of waste utilization and to fix real deadlines in terms of attracting investors with good reputation and experience in the global market. The authors of the document also suggest seeking assistance from the international community in order to remove acid tar lakes near Hrybovytske landfill and Novy Rozdil.
In addition, the MPs demand that the law enforcement agencies find out what measures have been taken by the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources and other government agencies in order to prevent the tragedy that happened on May 30, and check the use of public funds by LCE “Zbyranka” and LCE “Lvivvodokanal”, as well as by the companies engaged in transportation of garbage. “Special attention should be paid to the activity of the executive committee of Lviv city council that specializes in funding researches and programs related to the situation at Hrybovytske landfill and financing assistance projects in the risk zone for the period from 2005 to 2015,” stress the authors of the document.
It is to be recalled, among the firefighters, who died because of the collapse at Hrybovytske landfill, was a member of the party “Ukrainian Patriots Association – UKROP” Andriy Vnenkevych. Deputy of Zhovkva district council and chairman of the local community council Andriy Vnenkevych was actively fighting for civilized solution of the problems of Hrybovytske landfill, until he became a victim of this landfill.
