Spring cleaning of the Asylum Centre in Krnjaca

Within the spring cleaning of the City of Belgrade, a joint action was organized for cleaning the area surrounding the Asylum Centre in Krnjaca, with the aim of creating a healthier and cleaner environment for all residents of this part of the city. The activity gathered migrants accommodated at the Asylum Centre “Krnjaca”, PUC “City Sanitation” and the local population.

With the help of the machinery and employees of the PUC “City Sanitation”, the good will of migrants and employees of the Commissariat for Refugees and Migration, the access path to the Asylum Centre “Krnjaca” was cleaned and properly landscaped.

Darko Glavas, City Secretary for the defence, emergency situations, communications and coordination of public relations, urged citizens to join the cleaning of the city, to report illegal waste dumps and added:

“This is one of the 2,000 cleaning activities the PUC has implemented in the past five years. Today we took around 100 cubic meters of garbage from this illegal waste dump and stored it in landfills intended for this type of waste”.

Unconscionable citizens often illegally dump construction and sanitary waste in the area around the Centre. A large amount of waste accumulates this way and threatens the health of all people in this part of the city. With this joint activity, the EU Support to Migration Management in Serbia supports waste management and sends a preventive message about the importance of developed environmental awareness.

Jelena Maric Lukovic, on behalf of the EU Support to Migration Management in Serbia, said: “Migrants are happy to respond when we invite them, they like being valuable members of the community, and we are trying to enable them to do so through this kind of activities”.

Djurdja Surlan from the Commissariat for Refugees and Migration pointed out that migrants are always interested in volunteering activities that contribute to the community they live in, as well as in meeting the local population. She added that there are around 550 migrants currently staying at the Asylum Centre “Krnjaca”, mostly from Afghanistan and Pakistan.

On this occasion, warning signs were put up, with messages prohibiting waste disposal in this area. In the upcoming period, the City Administration will install video surveillance and lighting fixtures along the access path to the Asylum Centre and other surrounding buildings.