During the regular session on May, 25 Zhytomyr Regional Council decided to appeal to the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources and the Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine demanding to take immediate measures to prevent pollution of the Homora river. UKROP’s deputy group in the Regional Council insisted on adding this issue to the agenda. So the UKROP members supported appeal of the deputies of Baranivka district council, initiated by their colleagues.
The party representatives had to raise the alarm because of the environmental disaster faced by the residents of Baranivka district in Zhytomyr region. There the rivers Sluch and Homora have been polluted by industrial emissions not for the first time. People say the responsibility for this lays on the LLC “Poninkivska Cardboard and Paper Factory – Ukraine”, in Khmelnytsky region.
The appeal emphasizes the need for monitoring surface waters of the Homora river on the border with Zhytomyr region, as well as dumping sites used by the mentioned company without any authorization.
According to the head of the UKROP party faction in Zhytomyr Regional Council Nataliya Kokitko, the situation is very tense – local residents have been suffering from rivers’ pollution for over a year. If the authorities delay the decision, they are ready for radical actions. The deputies of the Regional Council unanimously supported the UKROP’s initiative.
“I am pleased that my colleagues from other factions have found common sense. It was probably the only issue in which there were no politicking and personal distraction. Now I hope that the Prosecutor General’s Office and the Ministry of Ecology will also understand the importance to quickly and effectively solve the problem. But if the authorities acknowledge their impotence or unwillingness to solve this knot, it is difficult to predict what people’s outrage will result in,” said Nataliya Kokitko.
