Boy's death near 'Aleksa Šantić' Elementary School sparks action, but owners refuse to remove fences!?

(Patria) - Anything is possible in Bosnia and Herzegovina, even forgetting the death of a child quickly! Is there hope that we will become better people?

After the death of a boy near the 'Aleksa Šantić' Elementary School, the Municipality of Novi Grad Sarajevo has initiated a series of activities to raise the safety of children near this and other schools to a higher level.

The tragedy that occurred in December last year, in which a truck hit a boy (11), who subsequently died at the University Clinical Center Sarajevo (KCUS), the Parents' Council of Aleksa Šantić Elementary School is working tirelessly. The Municipality of Novi Grad is also working, but nothing is easy in BiH.

As councilor Mirza Memišević (DF) points out, after all the procedures, the demolition of illegal fences, which are mostly built on private property but without proper permits, is next.

“But what should be a logical sequence in reality has a big, unreasonable, inhumane, and unacceptable BUT. Some owners of the fences are refusing to remove their fences. How, for God's sake?!

A child died, and it is very likely that in the foreseeable future, if the streets near this school are not fixed, someone else will die or be injured. That is the logical sequence of events without any ifs or buts. If it happened once, it will happen again, the only uncertainty is who it will be: a child, a pensioner, or perhaps the proud owner of one of the fences.

Narrow streets without sidewalks are not appropriate, but they were not planned that way either. Regulatory plans usually provide for wider streets, sidewalks, and protective zones. The same protective zone that the Municipal Council of Novi Grad Sarajevo, at its last session, handed over to an illegal builder at another location in the Municipality. Despite warnings to the councilors that this is wrong because in one part of the Municipality, as it should be, the demolition of illegal fences and widening of streets is planned, in another part, the Municipal Council allows the narrowing of the road buffer zone,” Memišević stated.

He is resigned, desperate, and doesn't know if it makes sense to explain that life is more important than a piece of land, a fence, or another structure.

“Are there people in the Municipality, the Municipal Council, and in society who can understand that personal interest cannot come before the general interest, which also includes our personal interest?! Violating standards leads us to particular solutions that result in loss of life,” Memišević added.