National Bank forgot about Brahin and the program of its economic upturn



National Bank of Belarus didn’t realize its own program of an economic upturn of Brahin and Brahin district of Homel region. The participants of a press-tour, organized by the Belarusian Association of Journalists along the regions of Belarus which suffered from the accident at the Charnobyl NPS, got to know about this.

Some words about Brahin. This small town is a district centre according to the administrative status and is situated on the south-east of the country, 357km distance from Minsk and 119km distance from Homel. As a result of the Charnobyl NPS catastrophe and radioactive pollution Brahin appeared to be a compulsory evacuation zone and therefore approximately 70% of population left it. Now Brahin is in the zone of pollution literally saying – several kilometers from Polesse radioactive-ecologic reserve. In Brahin 339 houses were ruined after the Charnobyl tragedy.

In a neighboring to Brahin Khotsnik district a governmental program of evacuation of village inhabitants and closing up villages is going on which results much discontent of the local population.

“There won’t be any more evacuation in Brahin district, - Valiantsin Hanush assured the journalists. – Two years ago it was planned to evacuate four more villages where there remained not many inhabitants, they all ran all over and prepared documents, but then there was no money for evacuation and the process stopped. Now some of them leave for their relatives and other just die... In our district the population was near 40 thousands people, and now only 16 thousand people remained. In April-May 1986, 9 households were evacuated immediately. They were 27 altogether. Later there remained 17 of them and now there are only 7 households in the district. Evacuation of population from Barhin took place in 1991-1994, people moved to different regions including Minsk. And we had population 5,5 thousand people and after the evacuation there remained 2 thousand. Today Brahin’s population is 3,5 thousand people, there is a queue for accommodation and 347 families wait to get quarters. I don’t know why, but people don’t build individual housing. Maybe 20 years after the Charnobyl disaster there a concept appeared that everything must be done by the government”.

By the words of Valiantsin Hanush, today 830 pupils study in the local school, youth comes to Brahin and the birth rate (in Brahin itself - underlined the assistant of executive committee chairman) exceeds the death rate. And by the way youth was coming there from other countries of the former USSR after its dissolution – they were coming from Ukraine, Russia, Baltic republics and Central Asia. “We got used to everything; all these people became local here. But the situation in the district is much worse now, - notes Valiantsin Hanush. – Youth doesn’t stay here, there are no specialists and the villages die”.

Valiantsin Hanush answered my question what happens with the products grown up on the polluted lands and if it stays within the district. “Spirit is made of polluted grain and the butter made from the polluted milk is clean. And what considers meat, we work in such direction, that animals from the start are grown on different feed-stuff and later, after several months they are fed with corn silage because corn almost doesn’t keep radiation. In the last years there are almost no returns from the meat factories as it was before because of the radiation pollution of meat’, - said our conversation partner.

And as for unemployment in Brahin and Brahin district, it really exists as well as in other regions of the country, told Valiantsin Hanush. “The level of unemployment is little more that 2%, but first those are unemployment who don’t want to work themselves, - states the assistant of executive committee chairman. – Of cause there are also normal unemployed people who got under job cut, but they find job and the problem is solved. Town-building enterprises are the construction PMK 91 which pays taxes, DU 148 of “Abldarbud”, District consumer association and “Kamungas” – all these four enterprises give the most return of duties. The rest is farming sector”.

Valiantsin Hanush sais that there are enough teachers in Barhin now, but they feel the lack of medics. “They come for two years, work and then leave in spite we build “Charnobyl” accommodations and all of them have a place to live, - Sais the representative of executive committee. – And the skeleton stuff of teachers is stable in Brahin itself and in the district”.

Once a year local children, according to the words of Hanush, come to Belarusian sanatorium for rehabilitation, but nobody offers boys and girls from Brahin foreign vacations any more. There happen little groups sometimes but such trips are almost closed now. Are our sanatoriums worse? From the other point of view, the West starts to forget about Charnobyl, they have other problems now – Kosovo, Albania, Yugoslavia was before that… And moreover, to invite a child one must have plenty of money, but now there is crisis in the world”. – thinks Valiantsin Hanush.

According to his words, in 1986, when people were leaving Brahin and its region, they were getting money compensation for their homes, their gardens. “Now all compensations have stopped because the state doesn’t have any money”, - stated Valiantsin Hanush. Moreover, the assistant of executive committee chairman has the opinion that people must have been immediately evacuated not from the zone of 30 kilometers from the catastrophe, but from the zone of 100 kilometers. Today the level of radiation in Brahin is from 40 to 70 micro-roentgens per hour and in the evacuated zones it is still now 1 roentgen per hour. “And when we measured the level of radiation three weeks after the explosion, on April 29, 1986, the radiation was 180 milli roentgens per hour – a thousand more that norm”, - said Hanush.

Journalists reminded about the program of National bank of Belarus of economic up-rise of Brahin district. What has happened to this program?

“The bank didn’t give any money yet. Even the World Bank gave money for gasification of the district, it was two years ago. Investigations of living houses in town Mikulichy and others were carried out, the inhabitants were satisfied, but as a result nobody gave anything. Even if there will be money from the World Bank or any other bank, they won’t get here. For example, when a large family builds a house, somebody thinks that the head of the family will put the money to his pocket. No, he won’t see this money. He will only sign the act of work, the bank will pay and that’s all – the owner won’t even see this money. All our other banks do the same. Yes, it was a good program, but it wasn’t finished. Especially when there is crisis everywhere”, - resumed Valiantsin Hanush.

In the nearly future on the web site of “Euramost.org” you can read the material about force-evacuation of the inhabitants of deserted villages in Homel region and about other things, typical for today’s Charnobyl zone.

Henadz LOHINAU