Since April 6th this year, the GNR and Public Security Police have issued 430 misconduct orders against property owners who have failed to clear their grounds of potentially combustible material.The Minister of Internal Affairs said that, so far, "no fines have been issued," since "the objective is that the cleaning be carried out.”
Eduardo Cabrita, at a Constitutional Affairs committee meeting, pointed out that there has been "remarkable work" in cleaning forests, by council workers, private owners and forest managers.
Cabrita’s message to Parliament was, "anything that slows down this effort is not positive."
In April, there was a political move to repeal the law that made councils responsible for land clearance if private owners had not done the work.
In April, there was a political move to repeal the law that made councils responsible for land clearance if private owners had not done the work.
Eduardo Cabrita stressed that it would be very negative if the rules were changed in the middle of the process.
According to the law for this year, this land clearance work by property owners should be finished by March 15th. Later, this was extended to May 31, 2018 to give councils time to do the work necessary and later to charge unwilling or absent owners for the cost of so doing.
According to the law for this year, this land clearance work by property owners should be finished by March 15th. Later, this was extended to May 31, 2018 to give councils time to do the work necessary and later to charge unwilling or absent owners for the cost of so doing.
Government yet has to hazard a guess at the percentage of land that will have been cleared by the end of May deadline with many rural areas needing extensive and expensive work after years of neglect.
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