Bošnjak and Brkanić: Responsibility Lies with Čengić, a Particular Problem is that the Landslide is in the Territory of the RS

(Patria) - Regarding the current situation caused by the landslide on the slopes of Trebević and the decision to evacuate residents of Bostarići and Ablakovina streets, the commander of the Civil Protection Headquarters of the Sarajevo Canton and Minister of Communal Economy, Infrastructure, Spatial Planning, Construction and Environmental Protection of the Sarajevo Canton Bojan Bošnjak and the director of the Cantonal Civil Protection Administration of the Sarajevo Canton Dženan Brkanić held a press conference.

They informed the public about all the events that led to such a decision.

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Decision on evacuation of population in parts of Stari Grad threatened by landslides made

(Patria) - Minister of Communal Economy, Infrastructure, Spatial Planning, Construction and Environmental Protection of the Sarajevo Canton Bojan Bošnjak signed an order of the Cantonal Civil Protection Administration of the Sarajevo Canton to evacuate the population in parts of Stari Grad that are thre

Bošnjak said that the Cantonal Civil Protection Headquarters has been in permanent session since the very beginning of this problem, monitoring the situation on the ground and the work of all services, which report to them in a timely manner about everything undertaken.

- What is also very important to say is that we neither want nor have the desire to step outside the framework of the Law on Rescue and Protection of People and Material Goods, according to which we operate.

All procedures, orders and conclusions we have made are precisely in accordance with that law and in accordance with our internal procedures that we have adopted in the Headquarters.

I appeal to everyone in the system to behave responsibly and act in accordance with their powers, as well as in accordance with all adopted measures and orders that we, among others, have issued here - said Bošnjak.

He added that yesterday's decision of the Headquarters to declare or issue an order for evacuation in the area of the Širokača Local Community, in the municipality of Stari Grad, is merely a sequence of events that were preceded by many actions taken by the Cantonal Headquarters together with the Stari Grad Civil Protection Headquarters, and with them created all the measures and rules that should ultimately happen and be respected.

- Therefore, the sole and primary responsibility at this moment regarding the implementation of the measures we have adopted lies with the Municipal Civil Protection Headquarters and the commander of the Civil Protection Headquarters of the Municipality of Stari Grad, i.e., the mayor Irfan Čengić.

In this regard, I believe that certain disagreements have appeared in the public caused by yesterday's interpretation of certain norms and rules or details of this very order.

What should be said is that this order was made in relation to the decision of the Stari Grad Municipal Council to declare a state of natural disaster in the area of the municipality of Stari Grad, and in relation to that measure, the Municipality of Stari Grad adopted a plan for the evacuation and care of the population in case of an assessment that a natural or other disaster could occur, and so on.

So, that is the plan that the mayor of Stari Grad, Čengić, adopted, prepared and sent to us, which was in fact the initial moment when we at the Headquarters made the decision to declare this evacuation - said Bošnjak.

He further emphasized that the decision was not made hastily, as evidenced by the fact that they have been working very actively for 20 days to correct things, to start happening in the right and only legally responsible way.

- In this regard, among other things, we had joint meetings of the headquarters at this location, and our representatives also went to the municipal headquarters in Stari Grad, so overall communication and synergy of forces were aimed at avoiding all possible consequences that could occur, given the findings of experts from this field and the problems that this landslide causes for all citizens in the area of the Širokača Local Community.

We are absolutely at your disposal with all our material and technical resources, as well as human resources, and we have been there to help from the very beginning.

Of course, we will not let the municipal structures of Stari Grad bear and solve these problems they are facing alone. Just as we have helped others outside this canton, we certainly have the obligation and responsibility to help our fellow citizens in the area of the municipality of Stari Grad - added Bošnjak.

Brkanić stated that at the meeting on October 8, they were officially informed by the Municipality of Stari Grad, i.e., representatives of the Stari Grad Civil Protection Headquarters, about the problem of the landslide at Curine njive and the problem of the Bistrički stream.

- A day later, we held a meeting of the Civil Protection Headquarters at which we issued a series of orders and conclusions to various institutions. We obliged the Municipal Civil Protection Headquarters of Stari Grad to undertake all necessary legally defined activities, as well as orders to the Institute for Construction of the Sarajevo Canton as the relevant institution to go to the field and provide an overview of the condition of the landslide and the Bistrički stream.

We received a preliminary report which established the existence of a landslide and a threat to the population and property below the landslide. After the mentioned institutions went to the field again, a more comprehensive report was made, describing more clearly what should be done, and proposing urgent measures and measures that will ultimately remediate the landslide itself.

Of course, all of this cannot be done overnight, and one of the burning problems is that the landslide is located in the territory of the entity of the Republika Srpska - said Brkanić.

He added that they informed the Federal Civil Protection Administration of the conclusions, which should correspond with institutions at the level of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, i.e., the RS, so that everyone gets involved in solving this problem.

Brkanić stated that the Stari Grad Civil Protection Headquarters declared a state of natural disaster in the area of the Širokača Local Community on Thursday, October 31, and on the same day they received the plan of this headquarters, which clearly defines how many people need to be evacuated, which services will carry out the evacuation, and where people will be accommodated.

- Given that the municipalities that receive the affected population, in this case Centar, Novo Sarajevo and Novi Grad, are obliged to make a plan for receiving residents.

The municipalities did so by yesterday and, following the law, we issued an order for the evacuation of the population from the threatened area. So, this is not a hasty and ad hoc decision, because work on this has been ongoing for more than 20 days.

There is an evident danger to citizens and property in the mentioned area - said Brkanić and emphasized that as the Civil Protection Headquarters of the Sarajevo Canton, they had to act promptly and undertake activities.

- Civil protection services work 24 hours a day, like the police, army, and medical personnel. This decision could have been made at three in the morning. We have had situations where the Government of the Sarajevo Canton held sessions at midnight so that our people, firefighters, could go to the affected areas at half past one in the morning.

These decisions we made were not made without previously arranged steps required by law - added Brkanić, emphasizing that the primary competence of the Cantonal Civil Protection Administration is the protection and rescue of people and material goods.