At a press conference held in Gozo, Alternattiva Demokratika Chairperson, Dr Harry Vassallo met Gozitan residents who have been forced into a long series of legal actions and protracted correspondence with government entities in order to safeguard the basics of their quality of life.
Dr Vassallo commented that this was in a way similar to the case brought to the public’s attention a few weeks ago when AD highlighted the plight of a family in Paceville. AD is constantly called upon to intervene in very many cases in which ordinary citizens find they have no effective remedies available to them. “There is no reason why business operations and the rights of private citizens should not co-exist in harmony. Nobody should be above the rule of law and common sense is called for,” Dr Vassallo affirmed.
During the summer months, especially in Gozo, the continuous loud bangs of “bird-scaring gas cannons” shatter the peace and tranquillity that were once the hallmarks of the Gozitan countryside.
This noise pollution has been going on since early July and will carry on until early September. The guns fire from 6am until after 8pm, equating to between 2,000 and 6,000 gunshots for 14 hours every day including weekends. Other countries have regulations to control this kind of pollution: in Malta 2007 there are none.
This is the fourth unbearably noisy summer in Gozo, even for those residents who live as far as two kilometres away from vineyards whose owners deploy propane gas guns instead of covering nets. It is surprising to note that when residents took legal action to safeguard their own peace and quiet, the judge in question ruled that these bangs could not be held to be a breach of the peace.
“We know of other Gozitans who have written to the Police Commissioner at least on three occasions since 2004 about this problem, copied to Ministers responsible for law and environment, but their pleas, in stark ironic contrast to their daily plight, have been met with silence.”
What are the authorities waiting for to regulate and control this unbearable noise pollution? More vineyards have been planted everywhere in Gozo. If gas guns are placed in every vineyard, instead of covering the vines with nets to protect them from sparrows, the problem will be more difficult to address, to the lasting detriment of all Gozitan residents and visitors. Someone occupying a civil service desk must have given permission to import these guns without taking into consideration the consequences they would have on such a small, but highly-populated, country like ours.
“What is needed is a radical change of politicians. Gozo needs to have its own AD representative in Parliament, a Green MP sensitive to the needs of the nation, and one willing to lawfully operate in conjunction with the rights of ordinary citizens, ” Dr Vassallo asserted.