April 9 Officials of the Department of Environmental Protection received a report about felled trees in Priegliaus Street in Vilnius. 11 performed the inspection. During the inspection, it became clear that 34 protected trees were illegally removed: 4 pines and 30 birches. The company will have to compensate for the damage caused to the environment - more than 11 thousand. euros.
During the investigation, it was found that construction was planned on a private plot of land belonging to the company. The company had permission to move the trees to another location, but did not have the right to cut the trees. Thus, the trees were removed without a permit issued by the executive authority of the municipality to cut the greenery, thereby violating the provisions of Article 13 of the Greenery Law.
The persons responsible for the identified violations face a fine of 240 to 900 euros and will have to compensate the damage caused to the environment - 11 euros.
It is important
In order to make sure that the vegetation growing on a private plot of land is not classified as protected, in each specific case it should be checked in the list of criteria approved by the Government, which meet the criteria trees and bushes are classified as protected vegetation. It indicates in which place, which type and which parameters of diameter and height the plantations are classified as protected.
A permit to cut, move or intensively prune a tree or shrub is also required for protected vegetation growing on private plots. Such permits are issued by Municipalities.
Responsibility
The Code of Administrative Misdemeanors stipulates that the illegal destruction of protected trees entails a fine from 180 to 600 euros for individuals, and for managers of legal entities or other responsible persons - from 240 to 900 euros. Environmental damage due to felled vegetation is also calculated.
In addition to the fine, for illegally destroyed greenery, the damage caused will have to be compensated, which, depending on the type of tree, amounts to between 5 and 20 euros for each centimeter of the diameter of the tree stump that is cut. The amount of damage, depending on the growth location of the removed tree, can be increased up to several times.
