One of the important areas of work of the prosecutor's offices is the supervision of the enforcement of environmental and land legislation

One of the important areas of work for the prosecutor's offices is the supervision of the enforcement of environmental and land legislation. Last year, about 90 inspections were carried out on these issues, resulting in the preparation of over 250 acts of prosecutorial response, over 560 individuals were brought to disciplinary, administrative, and material liability, and at the request of prosecutors, material damage totaling over 67 thousand rubles was compensated.

Due to the significant number of water bodies in the Vitebsk region, the supervision of the enforcement of legislation on water protection and use has been and remains one of the priority areas of prosecutorial activity. Inspections carried out last year revealed numerous shortcomings in this area, as well as violations of legislation on drinking water supply.

For example, in most regions of the oblast, the requirements of legislation on the protection of drinking water sources for the population were not ensured. Many water intake wells were fenced at a distance significantly less than the location of the first zone of sanitary protection, and often such fencing did not meet the requirements, as it did not exclude the penetration of unauthorized persons and animals into the source territory. There were cases of free access to the drinking water source itself and violations of sanitary and hygienic requirements at the locations of underground drinking water sources. All this does not contribute to the protection of drinking water sources and groundwater as a whole from pollution and contamination, and can negatively affect the quality of drinking water. The above took place in many regions of the oblast (Dokszycki, Liozno, Polotsk, Postavy, Rossonsky, and other districts) and is characteristic of drinking water sources belonging to UP "Vitebskoblvokanal" and other organizations.

Also, the regime of economic activity in the water protection zones of water bodies continues to be not fully ensured - along with the absence of devices and structures at many livestock facilities located there,

preventing water pollution, agricultural organizations do not always timely and fully remove organic matter from farm and complex territories, which leads to runoff onto adjacent land and creates a real threat of pollution of both land and water bodies. Such violations occurred in Verkhnedvinsk, Dubrovno, Liozno, Orsha, Polotsk, Senno and other districts.

In order to eliminate the identified violations of the law, prosecutors have prepared more than 30 submissions and orders, including the regional prosecutor's office has submitted a submission to the Vitebsk Regional Executive Committee. Guilty parties have been brought to disciplinary and administrative responsibility.

The results of the inspection of compliance with the rules of fishing and angling in the provision of fishing grounds for rent and their use indicate shortcomings in this area on the part of lessees of fishing grounds and executive committees. In the presence of facts of lessees' non-fulfillment of established fish catch quotas, obligations to create favorable conditions for amateur fishing, to place signs with relevant information on the banks of fishing grounds, to stock fishing grounds, to maintain their coastal areas in proper sanitary condition, measures provided for by legislation and lease agreements to stop such violations are not taken by the executive committees (Braslav, Miory, Glubokoe, Polotsk and some other districts). Based on the results of the inspections, relevant acts of prosecutorial supervision were prepared, and the regional prosecutor's office sent a submission to the Vitebsk Regional Executive Committee.

Violations of legislation in the operation of waste disposal sites are not uncommon - secondary raw materials are found among the waste to be disposed of, waste disposal technology is not observed, access roads and the territory adjacent to these sites are polluted (Braslav, Verkhnedvinsk, Gorodok, Miory, Tolochin and some other districts), which was reflected in the submissions and orders issued by prosecutors to managersof organizations carrying out the operation of waste disposal sites, as well as to executive committees.

The work on regulating the spread and numbers of invasive plant species, primarily Sosnowsky's hogweed, is not being carried out effectively enough. Despite the relevance of this issue and the availability of the necessary methodology for carrying out these works, many landowners have not properly implemented the measures provided for by the relevant plans to regulate the spread and numbers of the specified invasive plant (unsystematically, incompletely, with violations of deadlines and technology) or have not carried them out at all at the time of the inspection, which contributes to the further spread of Sosnowsky's hogweed, an increase in the area of its growth, and does not comply with the requirements of the legislation. Similar violations were identified in Braslavsky, Gorodoksky, Miorsky, Dubrovensky, Rossony, Orshansky, Sennensky and other districts, which served as the basis for sending more than 30 acts of prosecutorial supervision; the guilty parties were brought to administrative and disciplinary responsibility.

Violations of the legislation were identified in the activities of the structural divisions of land management of district executive committees (Beshenkovichsky, Vitebsky, Lioznensky, Miorsky, Polotsky, Shumilinsky and other districts), as well as territorial bodies of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection of the Republic of Belarus (hereinafter referred to as the Ministry of Natural Resources), including during the administrative process (shortcomings in the compilation of protocols and the issuance of decisions in cases of administrative offenses, the absence of necessary materials in the cases confirming the circumstances of the offense and the guilt of a specific person in its commission, incompleteness of the investigation of the circumstances of the case, etc.), which is reflected in the corresponding submissions sent to the territorial bodies of the Ministry of Natural Resources (Dokshitsky, Tolochinsky, Dubrovensky, Chashniksky, Ushachsky districts) and executive committees; unlawful decisions were protested by prosecutors.

Given the relevance of these issues, prosecutors will continue to work in these areas in 2021.

Senior Assistant Prosecutor
of the Region for Environmental Legislation Enforcement Supervision
Elena Kozlova