Farmers in Lipjan protest, they say they were discriminated against

Dozens of farmers from the Municipality of Lipjan protested in front of the Municipality building on Tuesday morning. They are claiming that the Municipality has discriminated against them in the compensation process for the damages caused by the floods that occurred at the beginning of this year.

According to the farmers, the Municipality had compiled a hidden list of 19 farmers who have benefited from the means of damages, while a total of 47 other farmers who have suffered major damages in the field of agriculture have been rejected.

"When they did the verification, they didn't deal with our lists at all, they made 19 other people, they made a separate list and sent it to the Ministry of Agriculture. 47 people have overlooked us", said farmer Benjamin Jashanica.

"19 people from Imri Ahmeti are on the list, we want to know the reasons and make public who those 19 farmers are, because the real farmers are these with 80 hectares and one hectare of greenhouses, otherwise we will not stop the protests in a peaceful way", said farmer Kosovë Kelmendi.

Haqif Rrustemi, head of the fire department and chairman of the damage assessment commission, said that the central level this year has allocated only 70 euros for the compensation of these damages.

"Other damaged sectors such as agricultural economies, agricultural lands or farmers, public infrastructure or businesses, there has not been a cent confirmed. The government's decision said at that time that the damages caused in the agricultural sector will be compensated by the municipal budget and by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Rural Development", said Rrustemi.

"This commission has nothing to do with the commission that was appointed for the special case and throughout the year we deal with cases. The cases come out, the commission evaluates them on the ground and based on that evaluation we also prepare them according to the green plan and every six months we address them to the Ministry of Agriculture", said Shefqet Amerllahu, director of Agriculture in the Municipality of Lipjan.

According to Amerllahu, the Ministry of Agriculture evaluates all subjects and compensates them depending on the budget.

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