On May, 10 Lutsk was visited by a governmental commission headed by the First Vice Prime Minister of Ukraine Stepan Kubiv. It will solve the problem of waste that has not been handled for years at Kovel veterinary and sanitary plant. Commission includes the representatives of the Ministry of Ecology and State Service for Consumer Protection. The high officials from Kyiv were also met by Kovel residents, living near the plant.
On the territory of the enterprise there are still about 2 thousand tons of wastes, 900 tons are composted in holes, 50-60 tons of which are bones. People are confident that the wastes from veterinary and sanitary plant have poisoned their water and land. The disaster zone is expanding, as the company secretly transports the remains of animals to the fields, forests and borrows of neighboring localities. Kovel residents also stress that people who live near the “factory of death”, suffer more often from oncology and have chronic respiratory illnesses.
“We get water in barrels, as it was during World War II, complains the town resident Liliya Shiyan. – We called Hunchyk (Head of Volyn Regional State Administration Volodymyr Hunchyk. – Ed.), the press has come to us, but they did not hear us. We were forced to go on the road and we will stand here until the problem is resolved.”
The representatives of the governmental commission state that they are considering disposal of animal remains at the military polygon Povorsk. Currently, Kyiv officials are also looking for opportunities to allocate funds from the State Reserve until June,10 for disposal of wastes at the plant. However, they will ask to cover a part of expenses from the regional budget. They also plan to put the plant on hold and to order the Ministry of Agricultural Policy to ensure work on composting wastes.
“Veterinary and sanitary plant is a state enterprise, and the state should react first of all. But its representative Volodymyr Hunchyk have not even visited the zone of ecological disaster – stresses the head of the UKROP party faction in Volyn Council Vyacheslav Rublyov. – This is an environmental disaster on the territory of Kovel. As deputies of the Regional Council, we have sent an appeal to the Ministry of Ecology, the National Agency for the Prevention of Corruption and the National Police, but we were not heard. People in despair are forced to block the road so that the problem of Kovel Veterinary and sanitary plant could be resolved. Now there is no much specificity, but there is at least a clear position of the ministry. It is unfortunate, of course, that Kovel residents had to resort to such extreme measures in order to draw attention to this problem.”
It is to be recalled, on May 7 in the morning Kovel activists blocked the road Kovel - Lutsk in the village Kolodyazhne. People are afraid that smelly remains from the veterinary and sanitary plant will be transported to their territory. Now protesters stay in the village Volya Lyubytivska. The international road near Kovel is still blocked.
