Protection of the historical and cultural heritage of the Vitebsk region is at a low level - the prosecutor's office
18/10/20110 views
18 October, Vitebsk /Olga Bogacheva - BELTA/. The protection of the historical and cultural heritage of the Vitebsk region is at a low level and requires greater attention from local authorities. This opinion was expressed to a BELTA correspondent by Valentina Khodosevich, Senior Assistant Prosecutor of the region for supervision of environmental legislation enforcement, commenting on the results of an inspection of compliance by local executive bodies with legislation on the protection of historical and cultural heritage.
The inspection revealed that, with the exception of Dubrovensky district, regional programs for the protection of historical and cultural heritage are absent in the region. Many violations identified during a similar inspection conducted in 2010 have not yet been eliminated. In particular, the issue of installing protective plaques on all objects of historical and cultural value remains unresolved. For example, in Orsha, a spot check revealed that protective plaques were missing from 4 sites; in Vitebsk, they are missing from 99 out of 236 sites; in Ushachsky district - from 22 out of 34; in Polotsky - from 28 out of 58; in Rossonksy - from 12 out of 43; in Tolochinsky - from 22 out of 31; in Shumilinsky - from 13 out of 33; in Verkhnedvinsky - from 9 out of 44; in Dokshitsky - from 16 out of 30, and so on.
In most cases, protective plaques are missing from archaeological sites, which, according to explanations from responsible officials, is a kind of measure to prevent damage to such sites by "black diggers". Meanwhile, the absence of protective plaques on such sites often leads to their disappearance.
The issue of developing design documentation for protection zones for historical and cultural heritage sites with regulations for their maintenance and use is problematic. The exception in this case is Vitebsk, Polotsk, and Orsha, whose general plans include protection zones for most of the historical and cultural heritage sites located within them. However, in most regions (Gluboksky, Shumilinsky, Beshenkovichsky, Postavsky, Rossonksy, Dokshitsky, Ushachsky, Tolochinsky, Miorsky, Senno, Polotsky, Orshansky, Chashniksky, Sharkovshchinsky districts, etc.), design documentation for protection zones has not been developed for any of the sites.
In the Dokshytsy, Beshenkovichi, and Braslav districts, instances of work being carried out on historical and cultural sites without the permission of the Ministry of Culture have been recorded. Such violations are a consequence of the lack of control by local executive bodies over the preservation of these sites and the fulfilment of the requirements of conservation obligations.
In the Vitebsk, Chashniki, Gorodok, Orsha, and Tolochin districts, and in Orsha itself, no funding was allocated for restoration and recovery work on historical and cultural heritage sites. At the same time, the total amount of budget funds allocated and used for these purposes in 2010 amounted to Br24 billion, and in the first half of the current year, Br30.4 billion.
To eliminate the aforementioned violations, city and district prosecutors have submitted 15 representations and issued 36 orders. The regional prosecutor's office will submit a corresponding representation to the regional executive committee on this matter. -0-
BELTA