They do not discuss supervision issues for the proper operation of a bitumen production plant announced to be relocated to Mitserou area, because they will not allow it to be established in their area, says the Communities in Action Initiative Group following the protest they held on Tuesday outside the Ministry of Interior.
The group, which represents the 12 communities affected by the transfer of the plant to the area, said in a press release that it held a protest outside the Ministry of Interior to deliver a memorandum to the Minister, Nikos Nouri, while expressing the residents' strong opposition "to the government's arbitrary, unjust and criminal decision to move the Prometheas Asphalt Ltd asphalt plant from Cherry to Mitsero."
It is reported that before the end of the protest, Mr. Nouris arrived at the Ministry and said in statements that the problem of the area is sewage management.
It is further reported that "he continued with misleading statements that the academics did studies showing that the load from the asphalt would only reach up to 400 m,". It is worth mentioning, it added, that such a study was not done by the academics' team, but by the private company ATLANTIS after being commissioned by the Environment Department.
The press release also said that the Minister followed up with a reference to a "Red Button" mechanism for systematic monitoring of the bitumen, which would stop the operation when the slightest deviation from the emissions is observed. "He believes that the safeguards put in place by the Ministry of Environment safeguard this issue," it said."
The group says these statements "provoked the anger and indignation of the residents resulting in strong disapproval on the part of the protesters.
"The law is stifling residents because we live in a highly polluted area where there is no state oversight of dozens of nuisance activities with tragic consequences on our quality of life," it added.
They state that the question of the affected residents of the area remains unanswered, why in Industrial A where the existing asphalt plants are operating the "Red Button Mechanism" was not implemented if the move was decided by the government for public health reasons? Nouris proposed to discuss the issue within the Ministry with a delegation of our group and receive our memorandum, the meeting did not take place in the end," it said.
The group says they demand that he, as the responsible minister, freeze the process of issuing the relevant permits (Planning and Building Permit) and that the government immediately revoke the decision to relocate the asphalt plant to the Mitsero area.
The group further says that "if they think, they will condemn us and our children, we declare our readiness to resist to the end."
Source: CNA
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