Government measures or a show for the people: Police cannot fine for odd-even, no legal basis!

Sarajevo police cannot fine drivers in the Sarajevo Canton who violate the odd-even vehicle driving ban because there is no legal basis for it, writes Patria.  

-This decision is not in the register of fines at all. We have no way to impose misdemeanor sanctions. The decision was never fully elaborated, and police officers in the field have no basis to fine drivers, Patria learns from the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Sarajevo Canton.

Sarajevo police have been instructed to only warn drivers, and exclusively during regular checks. This means that regardless of whether someone has violated the odd-even driving ban, a police officer must not stop them solely for that reason.  

-We are not issuing fines because we cannot issue misdemeanor orders or file requests for initiating misdemeanor proceedings, but we must act according to the decision, says our source.

In accordance with the updated Plan of Intervention Measures in Cases of Excessive Pollution in the Sarajevo Canton from 2014, the Operational Staff, within the Alert episode, ordered, among other things, the measure of “temporary restriction of motor vehicle use by introducing the odd-even license plate system.

It was also emphasized that all legal and natural persons who do not comply with the prescribed measures are subject to sanctions defined by the Decision on Protection and Improvement of Air Quality in KS (Official Gazette of KS No. 23/16), with fines for legal entities ranging from 1,000 to 5,000 KM, and for individuals from 500 to 1,000 KM.

This measure, given that it is not fully elaborated and specified, and the fact that the police can only warn someone, but not fine them, it is already clear on the first day of its implementation that it will not lead to a reduction in pollution in the Sarajevo Canton.

From 1996 to the present day, the third pollution episode, Alert, has never been declared, so in the Government of the Sarajevo Canton, no one, in cooperation with experts, has developed a precise plan of measures that would yield concrete results.

After water restrictions, the cancellation of the Centrotrans line Vijećnica - Hrasnica, driving in faulty GRAS vehicles, the unresolved issue of stray dogs, garbage collection... this is another failed experiment and a "measure of terror" by the Government of the Sarajevo Canton against the citizens of the capital. People's health continues to be endangered, and what Elmedin Konaković's Government is likely hoping for is a change in weather conditions that would bring about a reduction in pollution.