The Victory: The Bleached Pulp Plant Suspended Work

Have Svetlahorsk residents achieved their goal?

"Commissioning works are suspended on the bleached pulp plant, corrrective measures are being taken," it was the response of the Ministry of Natural Resources to complaints of residents of Yakimova Sloboda village.

Independent journalist Larysa Shchyrakova writes about it on the website Homelskaya Viasna.

Officials also promise that if after commissioning works resumption environmental regulations are violated again, the plant will not be put into operation. They also promise to learn through the issue on a stationary air observation post in Yakimova Sloboda, which is in close proximity to the plant.

It will be recalled that harmful substances of the bleached pulp plant, which are being injected as soon as the plant started operation, caused mass protests of residents of neighbouring villages and residents of Svetlahorsk, social tensions increased.

People started organizing spontaneous rallies, filing appeals to various institutions and requiring suspension of works on the plant. Mass media covered the problem. There were several meetings of citizens, the plant management and environmental activists.

Leaders of the Belarusian National Congress Mikalai Statkevich and Jauhen Afnahel held the rally in Svetlahorsk on February 11 and required to stop the work of the bleached pulp plant. Independent media covered protests.