Almost every day, smoke comes out of illegal furnaces that operate near the Fushe-Kruja area.
Residents live in the smoke and they feel powerless, while state authorities have not given a solution. They recognize the problem, but no study has been conducted for the air pollution by illegal activities.
While the government has declared the Year of Scanderbeg, domestic and foreign tourists who visit his castle in Kruja see lime furnaces burning tires and other objects, causing pollution that can be seen even from Tirana.
The giant smoke on Krasta, Fushe-Kruja and other areas release two very dangerous poisons, dioxin and furan, but residents are powerless to find a solution.
“They put filters by day, and then they remove them by night”, says Arif Xherahi, Fushe-Kruja residents.
The Minister of Environment, Blendi Klosi, admits that the activity is illegal.
“These limestone furnaces are 100% illegal. We will demand the activities to be blocked by the respective institutions. There is no better tourist season four our country, than the Kruja Castle, Tomorri Mountain, Berat Castle. In these areas we have an aggressive exploitation of quarries with and without permits to operate”, Klosi declared.
Although the pollution can be seen through naked eye from Tirana, the Ministry has no official data for the pollution level in those areas. Their solution is that permits for quarries and lime furnaces should be 1 kilometre from residential areas.
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