Social Democrats MP Domagoj Hajdukovic on Thursday called on the local and national authorities to urgently start work on removing the consequences of a recent fire at the Osijek-based Drava International company, noting that their conduct so far revealed a flippant approach to that ecological disaster.

Speaking at a news conference, Hajdukovic said that almost a month since the 4 October fire at the plastics processing company, the residents of Osijek and neighbouring communities still do not know what kind of air they breathe and there are still no results of soil and water tests.

There is no clear information on how the residents of the affected areas need to behave with regard to their gardens and produce, or their farmland and crops, he said, adding that competent institutions were pretending that nothing had happened and that the disaster was just an episode that should be forgotten as soon as possible.

The MP also said that he had not received a clear answer to his question to the Health Ministry State Secretary as to what was being done to protect citizens’ health.

Hajdukovic noted that he had sent written queries to Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic, Agriculture Minister Marija Vuckovic, Economy and Sustainable Development Minister Davor Filipovic and Health Minister Vili Beros regarding a plan for the protection of people and the environment on 6 October, but has still not received a response.

He said that the government’s attitude to the problem was also evidenced by the fact that the parliamentary majority rejected his amendment to this year’s budget revision seeking €2 million to remove the consequences of the disaster.

I am urging the local and state authorities to start dealing, promptly and seriously, with removing the consequences of the environmental disaster and finally start protecting citizens’ health, he said.