The public montage of the documentary film “Piralen naš svagdašnji – 2” once again raised the public question of how long it will take before the competent institutions at the level of Banja Luka and the BH entity Republic of Srpska remediate the terrain within the Business Zone Incel and the surrounding area, i.e. remove land contaminated with carcinogens oil.
In the film, it is reminded that pyralene leaked into the ground after a fire in the former Energetika plant due to the illegal cutting of transformers in 2019, and that there are no plants in BiH that could destroy it.
Five years after the outbreak of the fire that resulted in an environmental incident, a methodology was determined and money secured for the removal of only part of the contaminated land owned by the RS. The rest of the contaminated area is owned by private companies that have not yet expressed interest in its remediation, nor have they been obliged to do so by the city’s environmental inspection or the Inspectorate of RS.
The discussion after the public montage, where the working version of the documentary film was shown, indicated that citizens, journalists and activists still want answers as to why the remediation is not carried out in accordance with legal norms? Why does the current mayor of Banja Luka ignore the existence of pyralen and why does the city authority, hiding behind the need to build a new industrial plant in BZ Incel, turn its head from the fact that contaminated soil is transported without any control to the outskirts of Banja Luka and dumped there?
Those present suggested that in the final version of the film, additional focus should be placed on the fact that a new residential area is springing up right next to BZ Incel, that a school has already been built, and that no new monitoring of the land has been done and the level of pollution determined.
It was also pointed out the need to underline the issue of responsibility of all levels of government that perpetrate ecological violence against citizens, knowingly ignoring the long-term consequences of exposure to soil, water and air pollution with pyralene.
The authors of the film emphasized that during the work they were faced with a “wall of silence” both from the director of BZ Incel, the city authorities and the Ministry of Construction and Ecology of the RS who refused to discuss this problem.
For the first time, those present had the opportunity to attend the public montage of a documentary film and to participate in the creation of its final version with their suggestions, especially due to the fact that it is an issue that directly concerns life and health in their local community and an environmental problem that, if it is not solved, will leave lasting consequences for the environment.
The final version of this documentary film will be ready by the end of February, and for those who have not seen it, you can watch ”Piralen naš svagdašnji”, part one, below
Text downloaded from: www.ziviljudi.ba
