By Bejay Browne.
The Paphos Greens have hit out at “out of control dumping” it says is an ongoing problem all over the island, in particular in Paphos.
This was brought to the fore after photographs emerged online of all sorts of waste and objects being dumped in an area of Konia in Paphos which borders Geroskipou.
“This particular problem has been ongoing at this spot for many years and I have written numerous letters to the authorities over the years but nothing is resolved as no-one really cares,” Andreas Evlavis of the Paphos Greens told the Paphos Post.
The area is only 20 metres off a main road and found close to the Pafiana Hotel, which creates an awful image for holidaymakers to take home with them, Evlavis said. All sorts of materials and objects are being dumped at the spot, including waste from two building contractors, he said.
After highlighting the situation to the mayor of Geroskipou, Michalis Pavlides and the community leader of Konia, Kyriakos Kyriakou, last year, the area was cleaned, however the problem is again out of control at the same area, said Evlavis.
“It was terrible last year as a butcher has also dumped old meat and bones there and Pavlides carted away a truck full, it was disgusting. The mukhtar of Konia is now saying that he cleaned the area last year, but this is no good, something has to be done to permanently stop this from happening again,” he said.
This could be accomplished by co-operation between the district office of Paphos, the environmental organisations and the community leader of Konia, he said.
“They could contact the owner and fence the area off making it impossible for people to access. There also needs to be patrols and strict fines.”
Parliament allowed for 150 employees to be permitted to work at municipalities to patrol and issue fines in such instances, he said but that they have never materialised.
“When I ask them, authorities just shrug off my questions, they don’t have these employees and can’t really give an answer as to why. They don’t really want to do anything to prevent this mentality or to stop these practices. If they wanted to find a solution, they could,” he said.
