Protest in Shupli Kamen against sand extraction from the Pčinja river: Levica stands with the residents

Residents of the village of Shupli Kamen near Kumanovo, home to around 200 families, protested today against the public company AD Vodostopanstvo and the Ministry of Environment and Physical Planning, which gave the private firm “Logistik” DOOEL Kumanovo a permit to extract sand, gravel and stone from the bed and banks of the Pčinja river — as Fokus reports. The permit covers a 1,000-metre segment, from Zubovca to Shupli Kamen, and was officially granted for “regulating the water regime.”

The company started work about 10 days ago and, according to residents, has already destroyed part of the riverbed. Their greatest fear is drinking water: “If they dig even one metre below the level of the riverbed, the water will be drawn away from the wells and from the village water-supply basin. That would be a major catastrophe,” said Goce Stankovski, head of the Shupli Kamen local community, according to the Sdk portal.

The village’s memory is fresh and painful: seven years ago another company received a permanent work ban and withdrew, after its digging left pits 6–7 metres deep in the riverbed, where a 14-year-old child drowned — a tragedy accompanied by three more drowning victims, 4NEWS reports. The river, residents say, never fully recovered.

Inspectors from the State Environmental Inspectorate and the Municipality of Kumanovo were on the ground today, but said they have no authority to stop the work — only to verify whether the company works according to the contract, and they can intervene only if a deviation is found.

Residents demand the permit be annulled and the extraction stopped, and warn that blockades will continue. They also demand fair payment for the common property: the previous company paid Vodostopanstvo 60 denars per cubic metre, while selling it for 1,300–1,500 denars.

The Levica party also came out in support of the protest today: “Even after four human victims, the authorities are reopening the Pčinja riverbed for business,” the party’s statement says, as quoted by Fokus. Levica gives full and unconditional support to the residents’ protest and blockades in defence of the riverbed, the wells, the fields and the fundamental right to a safe environment.