On Friday, the Environment Ministry said that the 13 and 14 September measuring of air quality in Trubarevo following the warehouse fire showed significant exceeding when it came to allowed concentrations of PM10 particles, arsenic, cadmium, and lead.
When it comes to 18 and 19 September, it pointed out that the measuring showed the PM10 particles level had been within the allowed limits.
Regarding the 13 and 14 September data, SDSM leader Venko Filipce stated that the government had lied when it had been saying there was no air pollution in Trubarevo. As he stressed, the situation with regards to cadmium was especially problematic, considering the concentration was 12 times the allowed limit (59.1 ng/m³ as opposed to the allowed five ng/m³).
Filipce, who added that there hadn’t been an evacuation, called on Interior Minister Pance Toskovski, Health Minister Azir Aliu, and Protection and Rescue Directorate Director Stojance Angelov to resign.
Aliu, however, said there would be screening processes by pulmonologists of the population in Trubarevo. He didn’t say which other steps would be taken, adding nonetheless there were analyses also in the frames of the crisis HQ which consisted of representatives from multiple departments.
“You know that on the day of the fire, families living in a radius of fewer than 500 metres from the fire relocated. At this stage, we’re working with all families that have decided to stay there to see the health picture and needs from a health standpoint for implementation”, the Minister noted.
In response, VMRO-DPMNE, said Filipce was pretending to care about the health of citizens. However, LDP leader and MP Monika Zajkova, too levelled fierce criticism.
“I urgently demand that all measuring and activities, without covering up, be made public, a plan for decontamination and health checkups for citizens, and resignations by all that were silent while the city was being poisoned”, she pointed out.