This Tuesday, the PCP criticized the government’s “recycler of millions” that is preventing aid from reaching its destination, after hearing the laments of farmers affected by the fire in Serra da Estrela who have yet to receive the promised funds. have not received.
On the second day of the PCP’s parliamentary days in Serra da Estrela, communist deputies Paula Santos and João Dias went to an agricultural farm near the village of Valhelhas, in the municipality of Manteigas, where Paulo Melo produces about 800 liters of water per day . goat milk.
In August 2022, the farm where about 600 goats roar and four Grand Danois dogs now roam was surrounded by the fire that burned down about 24 hectares in the Serra da Estrela National Park. The producer emphasizes that he was only able to save his house and farm thanks to the help of the National Republican Guard (GNR).
“There was a lot of command level bureaucracy that allowed the firefighters to act without permission because this was all moving very quickly and I went to the village to ask the firefighters for help to get here. All they told me was that they had no orders from the command,” he refers.
More than 10 months after the fire, bureaucracy is now different: Paulo Melo says he had to fill out “a lot of paperwork” to access government support to limit damage caused by the fires. According to the producer, a damage inventory of five thousand euros has been drawn up with him – which must be reimbursed in full – but he has not yet received any money.
“We are waiting. Last year, in 2022, help was promised for the drought, which did not come. Now help was also promised for the drought, in 2023 we are also waiting,” he underlined.
Hearing the milk producer say he is already used to “false promises”, deputy João Dias took up the issue of support to criticize what he considered a “recycler of millions” of the government.
“It’s always the same millions: that support for fighting inflation, they will turn into support for drought, and let’s see when they come… Last year they also did the same: it was crisis measures, and then they turned it around in support of the drought,” he criticized.
In addition to this concern of Paulo Melo, in the contacts they had this morning, Paula Santos and João Dias also met Luís Melo, president of the board of directors of the baldios de São Pedro, in the municipality of Manteigas.
The commons of São Pedro, which cover 7,500 hectares, are currently facing obstacles in the recovery of the approximately 1,600 hectares burned in the fire of August 2022, in particular because the Institute for the Conservation of Nature and Forests (ICNF) is still has not submitted a spatial planning plan .
“At the moment nobody knows which species will be allowed, which territories will be used for those same species, how the soil will be used… Will we be able to mechanically mobilize the soil? Do we have to do manual maintenance?” he asks.
Luís Melo emphasizes that he has “no idea” when the zoning plan will be unveiled, and expresses his “deep regret that Serra da Estrela, as a national icon, is so abandoned”.
This concern is shared by João Dias, who points out that the lack of a recovery plan for the burnt area is a precondition for “various investments” and “access to applications for community funds”.
“This recovery plan after the fire should already be in place”, he defended, also considering that the program contracts of 8.9 million euros announced by the government for emergency measures in Serra da Estrela are “manifestly insufficient” for the magnitude of the necessary investments. .
Source: DN
