Citizens of Tuzla are increasingly sounding the alarm over toxic particles, dust, and thick smoke pouring from the Tuzla Thermal Power Plant in recent days. Photos shared on social media show heavy pollution and dust settling across yards and streets, while residents say their health and lives are in danger.
Locals describe suffocating conditions and a sense of abandonment by authorities.
Ševal Kikanović from Husino said:
“As someone who doesn’t deal with this, you don’t need any school or profession to see that it simply hits you in the head.”
Izet Barčić from Bukinje added:
“I cough up a chimney every morning. I carry a pump, I don’t go anywhere without them.”
Mirsada Šehić from Bukinje noted:
“Just see when they release it, it’s a disaster. I don’t know where that video can be taken to see for yourself, to see.”
Environmental activist Senad Isaković Roko painted an alarming picture:
“Those who survived have mutated in relation to that pollution. We are aware that we will not be people who will live to see old age.”
Following numerous citizen appeals, the Electric Power Company of Bosnia and Herzegovina (EP BiH) responded, confirming that emissions of solid particles from Unit 5 were indeed elevated, causing the visible brown-yellow smoke.
“The Unit has been shut down, and the cause of the increase is being eliminated – namely, cleaning of the electrostatic precipitator electrodes whose contamination led to the higher emissions,” the company stated.
Still, residents suspect that hazardous waste is being burned at the plant, and accuse authorities of ignoring repeated complaints and protest calls.
Denis Žiško from the Aarhus Center BiH said:
“We do not see a reaction from either the Ministry of Environment or the Ministry of Mining, and these are two ministries that should be leading processes to solve the pollution problem. The killing of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s citizens by pollution from these units must be prevented.”
Activists warn that the Tuzla Thermal Power Plant is operating beyond its safe capacity, relying on outdated infrastructure.
Isaković Roko added:
“This plant does not have one third of its facilities. It should have had a desulfurization plant 30 years ago. It does not have one at all.”
Frustration also grows over alleged political influence in employment and management.
Mirsada Šehić voiced her anger:
“Who rules down there? What kind of party rules down there? I’m not afraid to say that. Everything here is party-based. They hire party-based people, and no one has any idea that they’re doing that job.”
Instead of a modern and eco-friendly facility like Block 7, for which hundreds of millions of BAM were invested before the project collapsed without a trace, Tuzla residents are now left with Block 4 – and a chimney that has become a symbol of pollution and despair.
Citizens say they will not remain silent, promising legal and civil battles until their right to breathe clean air is protected, BHRT writes.
