site.btaGovernment Promises to Compensate Farmers Struck by Hailstorms near Plovdiv, Prosecution Service Orders Inspection

Government Promises to Compensate Farmers Struck by Hailstorms near Plovdiv, Prosecution Service Orders Inspection

ESD 19:46:31 30-08-2021
MT1946ES.126
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Government Promises to Compensate Farmers
Struck by Hailstorms near Plovdiv,
Prosecution Service Orders Inspection


August 30 (BTA) - The government has promised to compensate farmers in the Plovdiv region (south central Bulgaria), who blame the authorities for the damage caused by heavy hail on Saturday night after a controversial one-hour ban on the use of hail-suppression rockets in the area. Meanwhile, the prosecutor's office asked the Ministry of Agriculture to conduct an inspection.

A hailstorm with ice grains as big as walnuts hit several Plovdiv villages on the evening of August 28. According to the Bulgarian National Radio, 82 rockets were fired during the day, but for about an hour, between 7 and 8 pm, there was a ban and so a large cell above Razhevo Konare remained untreated.

According to some media, a NATO military transport plane was scheduled for the same evening from Ramstein Air Base to Plovdiv Airport, whose trajectory passed through the currently activated hail-suppression sites. The information was confirmed by caretaker Minister of Agriculture Hristo Bozukov, according to whom, however, the plane was supposed to land at Graf Ignatievo Airport, near Plovdiv. The Bulgarian Air Traffic Services Authority (BULATSA) has submitted a request to stop firing at the hail to ensure the safe landing of the aircraft. After a one-hour break, during which the plane landed, permission was given to continue firing hail-suppression rockets.

On Monday, the Supreme Administrative Prosecutor's Office asked the Inspectorate of the Ministry of Agriculture to conduct an inspection in connection with the hail that fell at the end of last week in the Plovdiv region. The inspection must establish whether all hail-suppression requirements were met.

BULATSA explained that decisions to stop the hail-suppression sites are taken by the civil-military centre for coordination and use of airspace in Boyana (near Sofia). According to a procedure that has existed since 2011, when operating the hail-suppression sites, the priority is to ensure the planned flights to and from Plovdiv Airport.

Minister of Agriculture Hristo Bozukov visited Razhevo Konare, which is one of the most affected of nearly fifteen Plovdiv villages after the hail. In response to protests from locals, he said: "We are also looking for the culprits." The Minister has ordered the description of the damages and opportunities have already been found to compensate the farmers for their destroyed produce.