‘Rospotrebnadzor will file lawsuits, the poultry farm will make a report. But the smell will remain’
Residents of villages suffering from the stench in the neighbourhood of poultry farms near Kazan are looking for a way out that will suit everyone
The aspirations of residents living in villages near Kazan in the neighborhood of a poultry farm and complaining about the stench, it seems, have been heard. The Laishevsky District Court granted the claim of the territorial department of the Rospotrebnadzor Administration for Tatarstan to the Ak Bars poultry complex (part of Ivan Yegorov's holding of the same name), recognising its actions for non-compliance with sanitary and epidemiological requirements in the residential area as illegal. Whether the population is satisfied with the court's decision and what next step active citizens intend to take — in the material of Realnoe Vremya.
“There are fewer smells, but they haven't stopped completely”
It is difficult to say what the outcome of the case will lead to, even if the poultry farm reports on the elimination of violations, activists from Stolbishche say. For several years now, they have been complaining about unpleasant odors from the fields where the company's waste is taken out. “It seems to us that the courts will not solve the problems," says Denis Krasnoyartsev, a resident of the village.
“The smells have become a little less, but this does not mean that they have stopped altogether. Just a couple of days ago, residents again complained of unpleasant smell. We think that these lawsuits will continue. Rospotrebnadzor will file lawsuits, the poultry farm will report that it has eliminated violations. But the problem, by and large, will not be solved," the man expressed his opinion.
In his opinion, serious financial injections are needed to finally resolve the issue. He is convinced that it is impossible to do without the help of the authorities here. Now signatures are being collected in the village to send an appeal to the authorities of the republic and, possibly, to the government of Russia, “so that enterprises are allocated funds for the purchase of equipment that could process chicken manure into organic fertilisers or fuel, as in developed countries”.
“The village is growing more and more every year. Previously, people who lived on their own farm may not have noticed these smells, but now the townspeople are moving to their own homes in the bosom of nature, and they are already very clearly feeling all the unpleasant smells, these smells are actually just disgusting," residents of the villages of Laishevsky and Pestrechinsky districts complain.
As Denis Krasnoyarsk stated, this problem concerns not only the residents of Stolbishche, it is relevant for everyone who lives near poultry farms. The enterprises do not have equipment for processing biological waste. “No one wants to invest," the interlocutor of Realnoe Vremya believes.
“In civilised countries, this problem is solved. It is clear that these are large financial investments, but they will pay off very quickly. Good organic fertilisers will be useful for agriculture. It turns out that this is a mutually beneficial project.”
“Apparently, privileged people do not live in our village. We have no choice now but to collect signatures and apply to higher authorities.”
Now the residents of Stolbishche are preparing an appeal, to which all court decisions and other documents will be attached.
“Reporting on the work done”
The residents of Sokury and neighbouring villages — Stolbishche, Kirbi, Gabishevo, Travkino — have been trying to solve the problem of unpleasant odors from biological waste from poultry farms since 2019. Over this time, cases have been brought against the poultry complex several times for non-compliance with sanitary and epidemiological requirements, fines were issued to the enterprise, but, according to residents, they were insignificant. Once again, the court ruled that the company was guilty of violating the requirements for ensuring the quality of atmospheric air, expressed in exceeding the maximum permissible concentrations of hydrogen sulfide (by 1,7 times in the residential area of the Republic of Tatarstan) when handling waste and fertiliыers that are formed during the activities of the poultry farm.
The applicant was the territorial department of Rospotrebnadzor, which filed a lawsuit, justifying it with numerous complaints from citizens about the smell of bird manure in the settlements near the Yaratel poultry farm, the branch of Ak Bars Poultry Complex PLC. Thus, the Laishevsky territorial department received material from the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources of the Republic of Tatarstan on the consideration of citizens' appeals about atmospheric air pollution and the discharge of biological waste on the territory of Chirpovsky rural settlement as a result of the company's activities.
A specialist of the department during the departure and inspection revealed traces of previously carried out work of specialised agricultural machinery (manure spreader) and the presence of a sharp pungent odor. Atmospheric air sampling and soil sampling for laboratory studies were carried out. According to the protocol, the excess of the maximum permissible concentration of hydrogen sulfide in the atmospheric air was detected. Later, representatives of the department again went to the place and again found a working specialised equipment that belongs to the poultry farm. There were other points of the administrative case.
As a result, the Laishevsky court decided to satisfy the claim and recognise the illegal actions of the poultry complex. The court ordered the company to comply with sanitary and epidemiological requirements for maintaining the proper quality of atmospheric air in the residential area when handling waste and fertilisers generated during the activities of the poultry farm. Now the company must report on the work done. In case of failure to inform the court about the measures taken to enforce the court's decision, a fine will be imposed.