Residents of Šupli Kamen, a village near Kumanovo, have taken to the streets and announced blockades until sand extraction from the bed of the Pčinja river stops. The reason is a permit: it was issued by the Ministry of Environment and Physical Planning, the investor is the state water management company AD Vodostopanstvo, and the work on the ground is being done by a private firm, Logistik DOOEL from Kumanovo.

A sign by the river says the work involves extracting sand, gravel and stone from the bed and banks of the Pčinja along a 1,000-metre stretch, from Zubovce to Šupli Kamen - officially "to regulate the water regime". Residents say that in about ten days the company has already undercut the riverbed, leaving steep banks and dried-out trees.

"If they dig out one more metre below the level of the riverbed, the water will drain from the wells and from the village water supply reservoir," warns Goce Stankovski, head of the local community council. The village has around 200 households, and it has already lost its irrigation water, they say.

A film the village has seen before

This isn't the first time. According to residents, six or seven years ago another company extracted sand from the same river and left pits 6-7 metres deep in the riverbed. A 14-year-old child drowned in them, they say, and there were three other victims. After the protests back then, in 2019, the company received a permanent ban on operating. Locals claim the river hasn't since brought down enough sand to return to its original state - and the institutions, they say, have now issued a new decision without looking at the situation on the ground.

The residents also have a number that hurts more than the dust from the trucks. According to the information they have, the previous company paid Vodostopanstvo 60 denars per cubic metre of sand and sold it for 1,300 to 1,500 denars. What the deal with the new company looks like, they don't know. If a state resource is being extracted anyway, they are asking that at least it be paid for at market price, with the money going into the budget and not into private pockets.

The inspectors: the permit is in order

A state and a municipal environmental inspector went out to the site. The answer was a familiar one: the operator has a permit, no irregularities were found, and stopping the work is not within their remit - they only check whether the company is working according to the contract. "We are here to protect citizens, if there is any non-compliance," the inspectorate said.

And there's the knot. If everything is legal, while the village watches its river being undercut before its eyes, then the problem isn't the company working to contract - it's who signed that contract, and on what basis. Did anyone at the ministry read the history of this river before issuing a new permit?