Residents of Barysau suburb receive come-offs concerning construction of garbage-processing plant
Residents of the villages Stara-Barysau and
Pchelnik have been sending collective addresses to various state bodies for
more than a month, asking to refrain from the construction of a
garbage-processing plant close near their settlements.
According to the local activist Aleh Lysko, answers have been received from
Barysau City Executive Committee, the State Control Committee and MP Viktar
Huminski (who forwarded the people’s address to the executive committee, which
sent another answer – the copy of the previous one). “The answers are
unsubstantial”, says Aleh, “it is only stated that three places were determined
for the construction of the garbage-processing plant in Barysau district, and
some studies will be conducted there. We have a suspicion that no studies will
be carried out at all and the plant will be constructed irrespective of our
wish. Moreover, they state that public hearings will be held before taking the
final decision, though the construction agreement has been concluded already!”
In other places of the world garbage-processing plants are constructed at least
at 5-kilometer distance from settlements, whereas in this case the distance is 1.5 km – not only from the
settlements, but also from a children’s summer camp. That’s why dwellers of
Pchelnik and Stara-Barysau also sent letters to the Ministry of Health Care and
the Ministry of Social Defense.
In response, the authorities have started exercising pressure on signers. For
instance, a “delegation” from Minsk Regional Executive Committee paid a visit
to the pensioner who provided his telephone number to receive answers from
state bodies. The committee’s officers tried to find out who disseminated
information about the construction of the garbage-processing plant, who
presented the construction plan, collected signatures, etc. We cannot rule out
the possibility of pressurization of other citizens of Barysau suburb who
oppose the construction of the plant.
