Željezno Polje: Aid has not arrived yet, ZDK Government rejects responsibility

Residents of Željezno Polje still have not received the heavy machinery they need to re-establish road communication in this town, which after the recent severe floods in Bosnia and Herzegovina remained cut off from the main road, reports the Bosnian news agency Patria (NAP).

Several thousand residents in Željezno Polje are most concerned about the long wait for assistance from the Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina. According to information available in Željezno Polje, the Government of the Zenica-Doboj Canton claims it is not responsible for solving local road issues and shifts responsibility to the Žepče Municipality, which evidently lacks the capacity to deal with the newly emerged problems.

The residents of Željezno Polje are outraged and frightened. They warn that if the authorities do not resolve their problems as soon as possible, new protests and blockades of the main Zenica–Doboj road are possible, writes NAP.

During the floods and landslides that hit Bosnia and Herzegovina in May this year, dozens of houses and other structures were destroyed in Željezno Polje, while road communication in this town of several thousand residents was completely interrupted.

The floods that again struck Željezno Polje in early August once more destroyed three kilometers of the main road in Željezno Polje, leaving 11 villages cut off again.

The Ministry of Defense of Bosnia and Herzegovina issued a statement claiming that members of the Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina are on the ground providing assistance in Željezno Polje, but residents denied these claims. Only one machine cleaning the riverbed is on site, they say, while another machine is broken.