What Are Homel Authorities Hiding?

An ecological catastrophe is being hushed up in Homel region.

"They’ve made it clear that if we hold a mass meeting, it will come to layoffs. Without explaning the reason." Residents of the village of Znamia Truda in Homel region are complaining about such intimidations from the side of the local authorities. And there is a strong reason for a mass meeting. Since 2003, the people have been fighting against a garbage dump near their homes. It's as if they have achieved its elimination, but now the situation is close to an ecological disaster, Belsat reports.

Instead of eliminating the dump, they have made the appearance of order

Residents of the village of Znamia Truda in Homel region accuse the local authorities of an environmental crime.

"They’ve excavated a ditch right up to the water. All the rubbish was pushed off into that pit. And on top they covered it all with pines and birches growing next to it. And the buried rubbish has reached the groundwater. Now the groundwater will infect the whole village," – local activist Mikhail Piakhota resents.

Propagandists’ lies

A beautiful picture of the unauthorized dump’ liquidation has been shown on state television. The word was also given to the local residents.

There’s only one kink: the local residents argue that the man in the pro-government media’s footage is not a resident of the village.

"We first saw him on the TV screen. He introduced himself as a resident of the village of Znamia Truda. But we have never seen him even among the summer visitors. A well fleshed handsome man. When we – village girls – we came as we were. And there was such a mister – not from here. We believe that he was brought by the village council chairman," – the local people say.

We’ve asked the village council chairman to explain the situation

"I'm not explaining on the phone. Because this is a serious issue. You can come, if you have accreditation or permission to shoot, then we can talk," – village council chairman Zhanna Biznia said.

Not having found support at the local level, the residents turned to the Homel regional executive committee, the State Control Committee, the administration of Lukashenka. The answers were positive. We would help, we would send a commission to check. However, the result is zero so far.

For fifteen years of the dump’s existence just outside the village, the drinking water has turned into poison.

They’ve tried to remedy the situation with clorine

"After they whelmed it with clorine in the summer, the water has become turbid, white," – a local resident complains.

It did not help. After a check, it turned out that the water was bad even in a well of 35 meters.

For the filled up dump not to turn into an ecological catastrophe, the people have turned to Lukashenka in the last hope to be heard:

"We ask to carry out an investigation and punish the people who are guilty of such a situation."

Will he hear?