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Why did the Environmental Protection Agency resign and initiate a process against Milenko Jovanović?
The Environmental Protection Agency fired the former head of the Air Protection Department, Milenko Jovanovic, and initiated disciplinary proceedings against him after Jovanovic allegedly rebelled against changes in the way air quality is assessed. air.
Photo 1: Aleksandar Roknic; Photo 2: YoutubeOn November 18, the Agency issued a decision on the termination of employment of employee Milenko Jovanović, due to, as indicated in the decision, various omissions and unauthorized actions related to work and labor relations, which is why the acting director of the Agency, Filip Radović, although in the meantime expired mandate status, initiated disciplinary proceedings.
Jovanovic told Danas that this is solely a matter of profession and experience, not politics, and that he was fired because he did not want to allow decisions to be made on how to display hourly pollutant concentrations and interpret quality categories of the product. air without expert opinion.
– The dispute arose because I never allowed the influence of any influence on the professional part of the operational work that I carried out, because that would jeopardize its execution. This culminated in late October when there was a famous change in the criteria for displaying pollutant concentrations. Such a change can be made, because it is a matter of agreement, not of law, but here the director did not consult the profession, that is, the employees who have it in their job description and who do it professionally. This was done by the director by ordering the company that maintains the air quality information system to change the display of the data, without any of us who are dealing with it knowing about it, explained Jovanović.
He points out that the director has the right to make such decisions, but that it is very bad when he does not consult experts, and at the same time confuses the public by giving contradictory information. That is why, as he himself says, he went to the management, as a result of which there were several changes with confusing explanations for the public.
– I cannot say whether I wanted to soften the presentation of the situation because the air quality in Belgrade is not satisfactory, says Jovanović.
He adds that the way he was treated by management was a “school example of mobbing”, and that the disciplinary proceeding against him was professionally unfounded and outrageously incorrect in procedural terms.
– I am criticized for the maintenance of the stations due to inadequate maintenance, which is otherwise performed very, very well by an external company. The reality is that they are in excellent condition, which is confirmed by both the monitoring results and the reports. They also accused me of having bad interpersonal relationships in my department, although no one in the department was questioned. Such an idea to make the lie come true, the director would not have been able to implement if the members of the disciplinary commission had not accepted this humiliating process, Jovanović told Danas.
However, the Agency somehow announced this case, by pointing to the Decision on Termination of Jovanović’s employment on the official website of that institution, although such a thing is not common practice, nor should state agencies disclose information about their employed in this way.
The next step is for the Serbian Government’s commission of experts to rule on the appeal filed against the dismissal of Milenko Jovanović.
Agency denies: “Contradictory Jovanovic”
The Environmental Protection Agency subsequently issued a statement denying Jovanovic’s allegations, claiming it was an attempt to misinform the public.
“The fact is that the Agency only harmonized the ranges of the quality index with those used by the Belgrade Institute of Public Health and did not modify the criteria for assessing air quality, which, unlike the index, are covered by legislation of the Republic of Serbia and cannot be modified. Any unilateral decision of the Agency, which Mr. Jovanović supported in due time, with which he agreed, of which there is evidence, ”the Agency’s announcement states. that Jovanović was “contradictory in his statements” and once again referred to the reasons for initiating disciplinary proceedings as grounds for terminating their employment relationship.
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