Shar Planina is being polluted, but no one is being punished
For almost a decade, no one has been punished for polluting the environment on the Sharplanin massif, according to the data of the Inspectorate at the Municipality of Tetovo.
It "boils" from mini wild dumps, especially in the area towards Tetovo's "Kale" and Šarplaninski sela.
There are signs with the inscription "No littering", but no one respects them.
Instead of beauty and clean air, the sight and smell is unbearable, react citizens, whom we found recreating.
"The people are unconscious, whoever catches themselves throwing should be punished, everything we do, we do for ourselves, we ourselves are destroying the environment," said a tattoo artist.
"I walk towards Calais and what do I see rubbish everywhere, this is very bad for nature, a disaster. There are signs, some warnings not to throw garbage, but unfortunately, they are not respected. We need to be more aware, we don't know how to use nature, we destroy it and there are mini dumps everywhere," says a resident of Tetovo.
The Tetovo Inspectorate announced sanctions for unscrupulous citizens who will be recorded as polluting the environment through surveillance cameras.
"We, as an inspection service, have taken some measures for that problem, we carry out daily inspections. We have caught on the spot how people throw and pollute the environment, throw garbage from tractors and trucks into nature itself. We have not punished those persons, but we have ordered them to return the place to its original state. However, we have had problems with staffing, thanks to the mayor we now have more employees, but we need more employees to function properly. From now on, those who are caught littering and polluting the environment will be punished. We have also asked the mayor to place surveillance cameras in some risky places. For example, there are mobile cameras in Skopje, and based on those recordings, there is information on who is throwing and where," says Abdulgani Aliji, head of the Inspectorate at the Municipality of Tetovo.
From there, they add that in the following period with controls, they will focus on the most risky places, where illegal dumps have been created for decades, they are cleaned, but the "story" repeats itself.
And the bed of the river Pena, which passes through Tetovo, has for years served as a place for some citizens to "get rid" of their waste. A variety of garbage is thrown: dilapidated furniture, white goods, etc. The situation is worst in the lower part of the stream, from the bridge on the "Industriska" boulevard towards the village of Saraqino, where the river is sinking in thousands of tons of garbage.
