That citizens' assemblies have the means and power to prevent illegal activities is evidenced by the halting of the construction of a car wash at the end of December in Košutnjak.
At the beginning of August, something started to be dug in the public parking lot above the swimming pool in Kosutnjak. Architect Ruzica Rajković Mićić from the Banovo brdo congregation says that they did not know what was being done, but it soon became clear that the foundations were being dug for a building and installations were being installed.
"There was no construction board. We didn't know what was being built," he says.
Construction without a permit
In a conversation with the assistant director of the Institute for Sports and Sports Medicine, the institution that is the beneficiary of that part of Košutnjak, they learned that the land was rented in order to generate income for the maintenance of the complex, but that the Institute did not know that the laundromat was being built without a building permit.
"We had nothing against supporting sports, but it was clear that there is only a central drain and that all the water, i.e. the strong chemicals used by the car wash, will flow directly into the sewage system of the pool, which can cause the destruction of greenery," explains Ružica Rajković Mićić.
They immediately turned to the President of the Municipality, the Secretariat for Environmental Protection, the City Construction Inspection, the Municipal Inspection, the Republic Inspection, because the area on which the laundry was built is the property of the state.
Construction despite the ban
"No one answered us until the Republic Building Inspection sent an emergency call to Gradska, and they closed the construction site. However, someone removed their tape several times and entered the construction site, which is illegal, so we called the police," says Ružica Rajković Mićić.
In November, the tape was removed, and about twenty days ago, the installation of the steel structure of the laundry began.
"We had teams that were on duty and kept an eye on what was happening, so we reported to the inspectorate that construction continued despite their ban, and they immediately came and made a decision to remove the illegal building."
result
"It turned out that our persistence and all those letters to the authorities paid off because, before the New Year, the steel structure was removed. This means that we prevented illegal construction, and saved Košutnjak at least for now," concludes Ružica Rajković Mićić.
In addition to the Banovo brdo choir, the Cerak, Rakovica choirs and the Beograd stays and Košutnjak stays initiative also took part in preventing this illegal construction in the protected area.
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