Agricultural enterprises of the Vitebsk region violate environmental legislation more often than other economic entities.
14/05/20120 views
14 May, Vitebsk /Olga Bogacheva - BELTA/. Agricultural enterprises of the Vitebsk region violate environmental legislation more often than other economic entities in the region. This opinion was expressed to a BELTA correspondent by Valentina Khodosevich, Senior Assistant Prosecutor of the Vitebsk Region for Supervision over the Enforcement of Environmental Legislation, based on the results of an inspection of compliance with legislation on prohibitions and restrictions of economic and other activities in water protection zones and coastal strips of water bodies.
According to Valentina Khodosevich, the most common and significant violations of environmental legislation in the water protection zones and coastal strips of reservoirs are committed by agro-industrial complex enterprises that include livestock farms and complexes. "Since 2009, the regional prosecutor's office has repeatedly drawn the attention of the Vitebsk Regional Executive Committee to this fact. To solve this problem, in November last year, the Chairman of the Regional Executive Committee approved a Plan of Measures to Improve the Ecological State of Water Bodies in the Region for 2011-2015, which provides for the relocation of 90 agricultural facilities outside the water protection zones," said Valentina Khodosevich.
"The inspection showed that the situation regarding this issue has not significantly improved for the better yet," she stated. For example, violations of environmental legislation were identified in the Sennensky district at the farms of OJSC "Sennensky Rayagriservice", "Sinegorskoye", "Ulyanovichi", and "Belaya Lipa". Some agricultural enterprises in the Lioznensky district operate in a way that is unsafe for the environment. For instance, at a farm in the village of Rublevo, no measures have been taken since 2010 to relocate the cattle grazing area, which is located on the border of the water protection zone and the coastal strip of the Charnitsa River, posing a real threat of pollution to this water body.
In the Braslav district, at a livestock complex for 5,000 head in the village of Laibuny (OAO "Agrovidzy"), due to a lack of control over the discharge of liquid organic fractions through a pipeline located in the water protection zone of the Maruga River, they are spreading over the territory adjacent to the field, polluting a section of land of the Braslav Lakes National Park. Violations of the regime for maintaining water protection zones and coastal strips were also identified in the Rossony, Verkhnedvinsk, Horodok, Dubroŭna, Miory, Orsha, Polotsk, Tolochin, Sharkovshchyna, Beshenkovichi, Vitebsk, Hlybokaye, Dokshytsy, Ushachy, and Chashniki districts.
Particular attention was paid during the inspection to the legality of the construction, reconstruction, and operation of real estate objects within water protection zones and coastal strips. In this case, violations were detected in the coastal strips of the Orsha, Ushachy, Horodok, Polotsk, and Braslav districts.
Violations consisting of the presence of unauthorized solid waste dumps were also identified in the water protection zone and coastal strip of the Western Dvina River in Vitebsk. In Polotsk, improper operation of treatment facilities by the "Prommashremont" plant, located in the water protection zone of the Polota River, was discovered. In this regard, a directive has been sent to the Republican Centre for Analytical Control in the Field of Environmental Protection for the sampling and analysis of water samples.
To eliminate the violations, prosecutors have prepared 77 response acts, including 19 submissions and 58 orders. For the purpose of resolving the issue of bringing perpetrators to administrative responsibility, directives have been sent to the controlling environmental protection bodies for the preparation of administrative cases against 100 individuals. The results of the inspection of the enforcement of legislation on prohibitions and restrictions of economic and other activities in water protection zones and coastal strips of water bodies were considered at a meeting of the collegium of the regional prosecutor's office. In addition, a submission has been prepared for the Vitebsk Regional Executive Committee, which raises the issue of bringing to disciplinary responsibility officials of district executive committees and the Committee for Agriculture and Food of the Regional Executive Committee who failed to ensure proper control over the tidying up of farms and other facilities of agro-industrial complex enterprises, which led to the pollution of water resources or created a real threat of their pollution.-0-
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