Posavina Canton Prime Minister: If I don't sue Lijanović, the people will

Posavina Canton Prime Minister Marijan Oršolić claims for the BH News Agency Patria that the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and its head Jerko Ivanović Lijanović are to blame for the floods and material damage caused in Posavina due to the devastating floods.

To prevent floods in Posavina, he says, only about ten million marks should have been invested in raising the embankments on the stretch from Vidovice to Tursinovac near Bosanski Šamac. However, this was not done.

The damages now caused by the Sava River overflowing its banks exceed several hundred million marks. Around 35,000 people have been displaced from their homes, houses and properties have been destroyed, poultry farms have been completely submerged, and pig farms have also suffered the most.

"If I don't sue Lijanović, the people will. People will demand that someone compensate them for the damage caused. If he thinks he will get away with it just like that after this, he is mistaken," says Oršolić.

He explains that according to federal laws, the embankments are under the jurisdiction of this ministry. Lijanović, he says, should have done everything to prevent the catastrophe. He even had the money for it.

"He didn't even show up here. I hear he's walking around Sarajevo in boots. Well, if anyone wants to, let them keep him in power," Oršolić is indignant.

He is spending the last few days with experts on the embankments in Posavina. They are making important decisions. Whether to breach the embankment to let the water drain faster, or to let it recede slowly.

"It's a double-edged sword for us. If we breach the embankment, the water will drain quickly, but I'm afraid what if the water appears again, it will penetrate to us more easily again," says Oršolić.

Posavina suffered enormous material damage during the catastrophic floods in Bosnia and Herzegovina. About 65 percent of the population was displaced from their homes, and dozens of farms and agricultural properties were destroyed.

"We are lacking flour and oil, we have nothing to make bread from for the people displaced from their homes. We are also afraid of infections when the heat starts," warns Oršolić for Patria.