For violating environmental legislation, not enterprises, but their managers should be fined - V. Tsalko

January 17, Vitebsk / Diana Kurilo - BELTA /. Minister of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Vladimir Tsalko considers it necessary to more widely apply penalties to managers and officials for violations of environmental legislation. He stated this today at a meeting of the Vitebsk Regional Committee for Natural Resources and Environmental Protection, BELTA correspondent reports. "It is not enterprises that should be punished, but managers," the minister is convinced. As an example, he cited the activities of the Verkhnedvinsk butter and cheese factory, where the treatment facilities have not been working for a year. Whey is discharged into the river, for which huge fines are imposed on the enterprise. However, according to Vladimir Tsalko, the reason for the violation of environmental legislation is the inaction of managers. "The law is on the side of those who protect nature, we must not be afraid to use it," he stressed. The minister criticized the work of the district nature protection inspectorates in the Vitebsk region for their lenient attitude towards violators of environmental legislation. According to him, inspectors do not fully exercise their rights to close down harmful production facilities and impose maximum fines on violators. "We need to show character. We should not be kind at the expense of future generations," Vladimir Tsalko said. -0-