Push to raze illegal homes
Supreme Court prosecutor Giorgos Sanidas has called for the immediate demolition of all buildings that have been illegally constructed on land ravaged by forest fires, sources told Skai Radio yesterday. Sanidas’s intervention followed appeals by a committee of experts from technical chambers, lawyers’ groups and doctors’ unions. They want the enforcement of laws foreseeing the punishment of «environmental crimes» before the next fire season gets under way. In particular, they want a crackdown on illegal buildings on burnt forestland, illegal landfills and uncontrolled construction on coastland. Meanwhile, experts attending a conference at the Andreas Papandreou Institute of Strategic and Development Studies discussed the alleged shortfalls of the government’s land-zoning plan. Opposition PASOK leader George Papandreou called for the withdrawal of the plan which, he said, does little to boost sustainable development and to curb illegal construction.
