We present the opinion of Leszek Socha, head of the VE-To Association and a member of Platforma Obywatelska from Nowogrodziec:
You do not have to be a genius to realise that waste-storage sites or rubbish dumps do not spring up overnight, with the authorities knowing nothing about them.
They are established on someone’s land. Someone approves the dump. It may be the landowner, an entrepreneur or the local authorities. Someone brings in the rubbish and gets paid for it. If the rubbish comes from abroad, it is even easier to establish who is behind it.
A police officer could establish these facts in two or three days. County offices and other local-government units have departments dealing with waste. At the bottom of official letters, usually on the right-hand side, there is a stamp containing the details of the official who issued the permit to store rubbish, and this is information for prosecutors.
There are also other services, with teams of officials monitoring these procedures. And what does the citizen hear? They hear that law-enforcement authorities are intensively searching for the owners of this rubbish or waste, while the relevant institutions declare that they are looking for millions to dispose of it.
Perhaps I would have a little more tolerance in this matter, but I cannot, because I come from the law-enforcement services and I know that it is not difficult at all to establish the facts and subsequently hold the perpetrators responsible, including officials and those responsible for monitoring these matters.
Someone made money from bringing in or generating this waste. They made money or saved money on disposing of it, and quite often caused a fire! And we are all supposed to pay for it? In the name of what?
The authorities are effectively making sure they take shortcuts and declare that the money will be found. Firefighting operations and waste disposal nationwide cost billions of zlotys from our pockets. Meanwhile, there are no cycle paths, no third lanes on motorways, hospitals are in debt—and one could go on forever—while people sleep and, in the meantime, argue about the divinity of politicians.