Near the Cabinet of Ministers the activists from Rivne, Zhytomyr and Khmelnytsky regions continue rallying. About a hundred protesters demand that the government take measures to stop pollution of the Sluch and Homora rivers by raw sewage of Poninkivska Cardboard and Paper Factory. The local residents, who live along the rivers, have been suffering from sewage for the last two years, but despite numerous people’s requests neither owners, nor the authorities react to the situation.
“People have a right to live and to consume clean water. Our demand is very simple: a case on rivers pollution should be submitted to the court, the losses should be counted and the rivers Sluch and Homora – should be cleared,” said the Head of Baranivka City Council, the UKROP member Anatolyi Dushko.
However, the prospects for court proceedings are rather uncertain, as the chairman of UKROP regional organization in Khmelnytsky, lawyer Dmytro Yovdiy thinks. “This case may be brought to its logical end, if public attention constantly focuses on it,” said the UKROP representative.
The participants of the action urge that their next step will be blocking of the enterprise-polluter.
At the same time during a plenary session of Parliament on June, 7 the MP from UKROP Oleksandr Dubinin read out the activists’ appeal to the Prime Minister of Ukraine Volodymyr Groysman, which, in particular stresses the urgent need to carry out a comprehensive inspection of Poninkivska Cardboard and Paper Factory, involving MPs, the representatives of the Prosecutor General’s Office, the Ministry of Ecology and local residents. And if they find any violations, the enterprise’s activity should be stopped.
“This week the MPs from the “Ukrainian Association of Patriots – UKROP” will register in the Parliament the bill strengthening liability for water pollution, which will include increasing fines, revocation of license or criminal liability for repeated dumping of raw sewage,” said Oleksandr Dubinin.
