The mayor of Paralimni, Theodoros Pyrillis, claims that the Police are turning their backs on the contractor who transported hundreds of dirt trucks on a hill located on the border of his municipality and near the Ayia Napa forest.
The Police, for their part, indicate that it is the responsibility of the municipality to take measures in order to lift the illegal transfer of land and call on the mayor to assume his responsibilities. "When we, and I personally were accused by various people, of interfering on beaches, the Police intervened to remove the alleged illegalities and I wonder why they are not doing the same now," the mayor of Paralimni points out.
For his part, the mayor of Ayia Napa, Giannis Karousos, told "F" that the soil actually emerged from an excavation within the boundaries of his municipality in the context of works for the construction of a hotel. The municipality did its part to remove the illegality, said Mr. Karousos. Besides, the Department of Environment considers that it does not have any involvement because it is not about dumping rubble, but about backfilling.
In addition, the Department of Antiquities has already sent a representative to the site as very close to the site where the construction of a hotel is planned, is the ancient aqueduct of Ayia Napa, so the works need to be monitored.
Affected residents point out that, 20 days after the start of the works, it is unacceptable not to know yet which service is responsible to intervene in order to end the illegal transport of such a large volume of soil. According to them, the result of the obstruction was to transport hundreds of trucks of dirt to their area.
Following the publication of "Phileleftheros" the day before yesterday, the mayor of Paralimni contacted the head of the Paralimni Police, calling on him to take care in order to end the illegal transfer of land and received relevant assurances. At noon, and when the work did not stop, the mayor contacted the Police again, when he was told that the matter did not fall within its remit. Mr. Pyrillis stated that he gave instructions to the legal advisors of the municipality to take action against anyone responsible, while for a week now he asked the Police to intervene immediately to remove the ongoing illegality.
The mayor of Ayia Napa also said that before the construction of a hotel in Ayia Napa begins, permission must be obtained from the City Planning. As part of this work, a large soil excavation was carried out. which was transferred to an area within the municipal boundaries of Paralimni, he concluded.
Source: Philenews / Vassos Vassiliou