In Hlobyne, Poltava region, environmental inspectors found sugar beet waste, spills of yellowish liquid with an unpleasant odor, and signs of soil contamination in the sugar factory's kagat fields.
Police opened a criminal investigation into the contamination of land near the household plots of local residents, the State Ecological Inspectorate of the Central District reported on Facebook.
As you know, each beet farm has kagat fields for short-term or long-term storage of beets. This area is used to store beets and control their quality. As a rule, the fields have concrete platforms for placing beets on them.
It is noted that the inspection was carried out on behalf of the deputy head of the Poltava regional military administration and in response to publications by local residents on social media.
"The inspectors called the police team to the scene and submitted a statement about the commission of a criminal offense," the press service said.
In the message, it was emphasized that after receiving the resolution on the involvement of a specialist in criminal proceedings, eco-inspectors will conduct a laboratory analysis of the soil. If the facts of pollution are confirmed, they will calculate the damages.
"Now they will find out whether the company has permits for economic activity. Specialists will take the verification of justifications for verification in order to confirm or simplify the fact of land violation," he wrote head of Poltava OVA Philip Pronin in Telegram.
He added that as soon as the weather conditions allow, the waste should be removed as soon as possible.
As EcoPolitic reported earlier, residents of Globiny complained about large-scale contamination of fields, groundwater and their own gardens with waste from the local sugar factory.