Zlatko Kokanović from the “Ne damo Jadar” (We Won’t Give Up Jadar) association called on everyone to attend a protest against Rio Tinto in Loznica tonight at 8:00 PM.
“We are all witnesses that for the past eight months, there have been daily protests, blockades, demonstrations, and our topic has been somewhat sidelined. We didn’t push it to the forefront so as not to impose ourselves, to stifle student protests, but while we were doing all that and supporting students, going out, even organizing blockades, the government is normally trying to realize the Jadar project. Elektromreža Srbije (Serbian Electric Grid) has given permission for the construction of two transformer stations for the needs of the Jadar project. One is owned by Elektromreža, and one by the company,” he said, according to N1.
He reminded of the recent guest appearance of retired Faculty of Mining professor Dinko Knežević, who, as he states, praises the project and says that they should soon get an exploitation field, referring to a working draft of the environmental impact study, from which the company itself distanced itself. “And he normally states that everything will be as it should be, that it will be transparent, but it is forgotten that the same professor said ‘I charged for my signature’.”
When asked what getting an exploitation field means, he says that Rio Tinto is going step by step to eventually obtain a construction permit for the project’s realization, “but it’s a bit debatable, because they are referring to a working draft of the study.”
“The official study has not been published to this day, nor is it known what it contains. Our eminent experts who have thoroughly reviewed that work and the draft study have said that everything is catastrophic and unacceptable, and that the Jadar project must not be realized. We have several individuals in the public who expose themselves, who lobby for the mine, and of course, we have the very top of this government, led by the President of the state, who is one of the biggest lobbyists for the company,” he points out.
However, Rio Tinto is not the only reason for tonight’s protest. As Kokanović states, in the last 15-20 days, they often have no water, they often experience power outages, “so when we compare that the mine needs a lot of water, and we literally lack elementary things like water, and when we compare those two transformer stations, whose demand for electricity is much greater than the needs of the city of Loznica, I don’t know how these authorities think they can provide that, and we all know how we get that electricity.”
“Also, about 20 days ago, we had an incident at the city landfill that caught fire. The authorities contained the fire in three or four days, but they didn’t pay much attention to the health of the citizens. They didn’t even close the kindergarten located a few hundred meters from the landfill, so that children wouldn’t be exposed to poisoning. Companies that have their facilities in the industrial zone near the landfill were not closed; people worked with gas masks, they were told to bring milk from home to reduce intoxication in the body. So, they can’t even fix some basic elementary things, and tomorrow they want to fight and control a mine, which has never been done that way anywhere in the world,” Kokanović emphasizes.
Source: Nova, Photo: YouTube/NOVA S Kokanovic
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