Cameras and Fences at the Krasta Landfill: Kumanovo Reacts After the Villages Spent Months Breathing Smoke

New video surveillance cameras and protective fences have been installed at the "Krasta" landfill in Kumanovo. Additional gates and lighting are coming next, says Mayor Maksim Dimitrievski. The goal, according to his Facebook post, is to prevent unauthorised entry and improve control over the landfill.

"With these activities we are taking concrete steps for greater security, preventing unwanted incidents and unauthorised entry, as well as for more effective control and protection of the area," Dimitrievski wrote. And he added: "We continue with activities for a safer, tidier and better-controlled landfill!"

Except the cameras didn't appear out of concern for order. They appeared after months of fires and smoke. In October, residents of Pchinja, Studena Bara and the surrounding villages blockaded the landfill, saying the fires had been burning for months. Kumanovo's waste had nowhere to go. They lifted the blockade only when heavy machinery started burying the waste and remediating the site.

The municipal headquarters for protection and rescue adopted conclusions as early as October 10 on stronger video surveillance, physical security and repairing the damaged fence. Now part of that has been installed. The mayor's post gives no deadlines for the gates and lighting, nor how much money has been spent so far.

The camera will show who gets in at night. But will it show why a city landfill burns for months, and the reaction only comes when the villages blockade it? As long as that question stays open, "Krasta" remains what it is today - a pit into which Kumanovo throws its waste, and the surrounding villages breathe the smoke.