Brest activists dissatisfied with answer of Natural Resources Ministry

The appeal of Brest residents to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection was caused by the unsuccessful attempts to get the local authorities solve the problem of the unpleasant smell in the city districts located near the river of Mukhavets.

More than a thousand people signed the collective appeal to Brest City executive Committee and Brest Region Executive Committee.

"The local authorities just stated that this smell is a result of reconstruction of the filtration facilities near the river of West Buh, and that the end of the reconstruction is appointed on 2016," said an initiator of the appeal, Hanna Kanius. "That's why in our appeal to the Ministry of Natural Resources we asked to take measures which would oblige Brest authorities to immediately intensify activities on improvement of the sanitary and hygienic situation in the city".

However, the ministry confined itself to information that the question of observing the rules of the use of systems of communal water supply and canalization belongs to powers of the communal utilities of Brest. At the same time, the Ministry of Natural Resources stated, that a proposal to examine the quality of the air and its correspondence to the sanitary and hygienic norms had been filed with the Ministry of Health Care.

"In fact, the Ministry of Natural Resources states that it has nothing to do with the issue," says Hannia Kanius. "In this answer we aren't even told where it can be appealed. However, the main thing is that we weren't informed what we could do to save Brest citizens from these stinking smells!"

The activist also reminded that last year the local authorities banned three pickets, whose applicants wanted to draw public attention to the problem of stink in Brest and protest against the inaction of the state officials.