The cleanup in Kolasin saw the participation of the Utility company, the Protection Service, the Utility Police, members of the SFC “Tara and Moraca”, activists of non-governmental organizations, as well as a large number of elders and employees of the local government.
The Ministry of Agriculture launched an initiative to clean up and regulate the watercourses in cooperation with local governments and beneficiaries of the Small Grants Program, which is supported by the regional project "Management of River Drina Basin in the Western Balkans".
“The action originated from the need of Montenegrin citizens to preserve and clean the watercourses, in those locations where we noticed critical areas with deposited waste, which is the fault of malpractice individuals. The action is also a way of raising awareness. These activities will create the formation of coordination teams, which will be made by municipalities and state institutions, and will continue to deal with the conservation of the watercourse. We will also work to strengthen the criminal policy, through the legislative framework, to prevent further pollution and devastation of the rivers," said Momcilo Blagojevic, Director of the Directorate for Water Management at the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.
He announced that in addition to the realization of the project related to the River Drina Basin, the ministry would extend the action to all rivers of Montenegro.
According to Mayor Milosav Bulatovic, who was one of the participants in the action, the local government's effort is to do everything within its ability to preserve the rivers in Kolasin. He said that future activities would go in two directions, raising the overall responsibility of citizens through education and implementation of criminal policy towards those who have a malpractice relationship.
“We will give priority to prevention and education. We must participate in similar actions, but also to raise the awareness of our fellow citizens when it comes to nature conservation. We will continue to work with government institutions to achieve the best results towards this end. We plan to organize a cleanup of Tara’s tributary," he announced.
So far, the Ministry has organized similar actions, in cooperation with local governments, in Mojkovac, where landfills have been removed and the area adjacent to the River Rudnica arranged, the tributary of Tara and Bijelo Polje, where the river bed of Lim has been cleaned.
Text by Dragana Scepanovic on October 19th, 2019, read more at Vijesti
