On May, 22 few hundreds of Lutsk residents came to Gnidavsky sugar factory demanding to stop its activities. To be recalled that yesterday in Lutsk there was a terrible stench that reminded one spreading of canalization. According to the information of Lutsk city council on the territory of sugar factory there were some outages of plants’ sewage facilities, which led to the spread of the nasty smell.
The stench in Volyn regional center has appeared periodically during the last two years. But when a few months ago a new enterprise LLC “BIO PEK” producing bioethanol started its work at the factory, all Lutsk was covered with this offensive odor.
Chairman of the board of JSC “Gnidavsky sugar factory” Rostylav Novosad has promised to install modern equipment to filter waste products that will solve the problem of stench in Lutsk. But local residents and factory workers do not rule out that in production they use toxic sulfuric acid. The drains of the factory have destroyed people’s vegetable plots, and kindergarten, which is located just 150 meters from the production site, is suffering from smell.
The Head of Volyn Regional Council Ihor Palytsya is confident that the factory cannot work in such circumstances.
“Production will not function until the environmental services and all the regulatory authorities make a conclusion, determining the sanitary zone, category of plant, necessary equipment, and identify who gave permissions, said Ihor Palytsya. – If there were violations – there should be criminal proceedings. We want to Europe – let’s do everything by law. So tomorrow a technogenic commission will be created on the basis of environmental commission of the Regional Council.”
This commission should examine in details the causes of the stench that put the entire city under siege. The Head of Volyn Regional Council has proposed to include to the commission the initiative group of Veresneve residents.
Ihor Palytsya has added that the newly formed commission will also check where the molasses (a by-product of sugar production) is stored and whether it does not smell, when the factory does not work.
During the last week the residents of Lutsk and surrounding areas have repeatedly appealed to the MP from UKROP from Lutsk Iryna Konstankevych complaining of disgusting smell. The young mothers are especially concerned as they walk with their children in the city parks every day.
“The first who suffer from the effects of air poisoning are the children, says Iryna Konstankevych. – Therefore, in this situation it is necessary to close the plant and to punish those responsible for the launch of harmful production, where so many people live nearby. This situation should be also investigated by the law enforcement.”
By the way, tomorrow in the Verkhovna Rada the MP Iryna Konstankevych will hold a press-briefing on this issue.
The work of bioethanol installation at the plant is now stopped. The chairman of the UKROP faction in Volyn Regional Council Vyacheslav Rublyov has noted that the position of the Head of Volyn Regional State Administration Volodymyr Hunchyk concerning disgusting smell in Lutsk resembles his position in the situation with Kovel veterinary and sanitary plant – he was actually keeping silence. And only yesterday Hunchyk gave a task to the environmental services to stop work at the plant.
