The car that drowned in the village of Sudalezer belongs to Gulbene district deputy Dāvis Uiskas, who is a servant of the people for the first time in his life.
NRA.lv wrote that yesterday, Sunday, January 18, the men of the State Fire and Rescue Service (VUGD) pulled out the drowned “Volkswagen Passat” car from Sudalezer in Lejasciem. Read here
“It’s bad that it happened,” says Valtis Krauklis, another member of the Gulbene County Council. This is a state-owned lake and it is located in the territory of both mentioned counties. This event highlighted the need to control the situation on the ice of such water bodies.
“I am in favor of the fact that young people in the countryside need entertainment. There are no opportunities here. They have driven cars on the ice and will continue to drive. Maybe the municipality should determine where it can be done. And then control what is happening,” says Gulbene district deputy Intars Liepiņš.
Only public appeals or requests to residents not to be on unsafe ice have been issued in January by both Gulbene and Alūksne county municipalities. “Other municipalities in Latvia have determined on which bodies of water ice is prohibited. We do not have such a ban,” confirms Mārtiņš Didrihsons-Linards, the police chief of the Gulbene region municipality.
Therefore, the municipality of Gulbene and Alūksne county has not used the opportunity given by the Land Management Law, which stipulates that the municipality has the right to establish a ban on being on the ice of inland public waters in its administrative territory and other waters in its possession, as well as the ice of sea coastal waters adjacent to its administrative territory, in such places where the life and health of a person may be endangered.
When evaluating the possible threat to a person’s life and health, the intensity of the gathering of people, the weather and meteorological forecasts, as well as the possibility that a sufficiently durable ice layer is not formed, are taken into account.
The municipality can announce a relevant decision by publishing it also on its website on the Internet. If both municipalities had imposed a ban on driving a car on Sudalezer, the owner of the vehicle could be administratively punished. For being on the ice of an inland public water body or a sea coastal water body, if it is prohibited in accordance with the regulations, a warning or a fine of up to twenty fine units (5 euros x 20 = 100 euros) can be applied.
Sudalezers is located in Lejasciema and Zeltiņu parishes and, according to the Civil Law, is included in the list of public lakes. In 2020, operating (management) regulations were made for Sudalezer. The developer is the Environmental Solutions Institute. The development was supported by the Latvian Environmental Protection Fund.
Those legal and natural persons who are located or perform any activity in these areas are responsible for the use of Sudalezers and coastal zones. Control is carried out by Gulbene district municipality and Alūksne district municipal agency “ALJA”. The state environmental control on compliance with operating rules is carried out by the Vidzeme Regional Environmental Administration of the State Environmental Service.
Find out first
what interesting has happened in Latvia and in the world,
by joining us on Telegram or Whatsapp channel
