In Volgograd, 17 ecologists and residents of Dar-Gora village attend protest action against work of "Tekhoil"

Today, residents of the village of Dar-Gora and ecologists held a picket near the building of the Department of the "Rosprirodnadzor" (Russian Federal Agency for Supervising the Nature) in Volgograd. They are indignant about inaction of the supervisory authority for the protection of their rights to prosperous environment, which, according to them, are violated by the enterprise "Tekhoil". Officials from the "Rosprirodnadzor" argue that the protesters direct their claims to the wrong address.

The picket of residents of the villager of Dar-Gora and ecologists against work of the enterprise "Tekhoil". Photo report of Vyacheslav Yaschenko, the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

The picket was held from 10:00 a.m. till 12:00 a.m. and was organized by the villagers and the information centre (IC) "Volgograd-Ecopress". 17 activists held in their hands posters reading: "Tekhoil, stop poison people", "By giving permission to 'Tekhoil', you destroy us", "We cannot be suffocated no longer," "Rosprirodnadzor, deprive 'Tekhoil' of work permit".

The stands showed documents and photographs, depicting violations of environmental laws, committed by the enterprise "Tekhoil".

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that during several years, residents of the private sector of the Voroshilov District of Volgograd filed to the "Rosprirodnadzor" complaints about emissions of petroleum products into the atmosphere. On March 1, due to numerous complaints, filed by the residents of the territorial public self-administration (TPSA) "Divnogorsky", the Central District Court of Volgograd pronounced a decision to stop the work of the "Tekhoil". On June 20, panel of judges of the Volgograd Regional Court cancelled the decision of the lower instance court. On June 29, the residents of the village of Dar-Gora and ecologists held a picket in the centre of Volgograd, at which they condemned the decision of the Volgograd Regional Court.

Elena Lyukshina, a participant of the picket, has told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that she lives close to the enterprise "Tekhoil". During the recent week, the residents of the village again felt a harsh chemical smell.

According to the activists, earlier, they filed another complaint to the "Rosprirodnadzor". Instead of conducting a sudden inspection of the enterprise, the administration of the "Rosprirodnadzor" warned the "Tekhoil" five days prior to the inspection.

"So, they were preparing to receive guests: they were cleaning their equipment, and we were breathing with all those chemical emissions. At present, of course, the supervisory authority will not find anything there," Elena Lyukshina said.

Andrei Khokhlov, Deputy Chief of the "Rosprirodnadzor" in the Volgograd Region, told the correspondent that today, on July 11, the administration of the Regional Department of the "Rosprirodnadzor" together with staff members of the Volgograd Inter-District Environmental Prosecutor's Office and experts from the laboratory of the Centre of Laboratory Analysis and Engineering Measurements conduct an unscheduled inspection of the enterprise "Tekhoil".

"We cannot organize an unscheduled inspection by ourselves. The law does not allow us to do that. Only the prosecutor's office is authorized to do that," Andrei Khokhlov said. According to the official, respectively, the "Rosprirodnadzor" is not authorized to carry out unscheduled inspections.

At the same time, Elena Vasilieva, Director of the IC "Volgograd-Ecopress", refers to the Federal Law "On industrial safety of hazardous production facilities".

The Law states that in the event if a state supervisory authority receives appeals and statement of citizens, "unscheduled inspection on site ... can be carried out immediately with notification of a prosecutor's office." At the same time, "prior notification of a legal entity, an individual entrepreneur about conducting an unscheduled inspection on site ... is not permitted."

The picket was held without incidents. The order was provided by the police squad and Cossacks-guards.