The Movement of Ecologists – Citizens’ Cooperation has strongly reacted to statements by Paphos Chamber of Commerce President Charalambos Pittokopitis regarding violations at Agios Georgios Peyias in Akamas, rejecting what they termed a “slanderous attack” against environmental organisations, particularly Terra Cypria.
In a statement, the ecologists explained that according to Cyprus News Agency coverage and correspondents from all island-wide television stations broadcast in evening news bulletins, Pittokopitis claimed that environmental organisations requested cancellation of the carob festival.
The Audit Office, in its recently published report, “put matters in their proper place” by stating that “the connection of the private party with the annual Carob Festival institution is arbitrary and misleading,” the ecologists said.
The audit report clarified that “the stage and sound equipment set up for the party had no functional or topographical relationship with the Festival events, and furthermore, the necessary permits do not appear to have been secured”.
The competent authorities had knowledge of the private party organisation and its risks, were warned, but did nothing, according to the ecologists’ statement. “Not only did they do nothing, but for days they have been misleading by talking about the annual carob festival, as Pittokopitis himself did during the event,” the statement concluded.
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