“Pensions and education fund for children of killed miners”

Minister of Mining and Energy of Serbia, Zorana Mihajlovic, has said that the state will help the families of the miners killed in the „Soko“ mine.

„In addition to one-time assistance for the families of the victims, the children of the killed miners will inherit their pension, but the Ministry of Mining and Energy will pay special attention to the children and we will initiate a fund for their education. The eight dead miners left 12 children and we will do everything to make their education easier,“ Mihajlovic said as a guest on Happy TV.

She pointed out that an investigation into the accident was in progress and that the results would be made publicly available. According to her, all the competent institutions, inspection, police, prosecutor’s office are doing their job and when the preliminary report is completed, everything will be made public.

The „Soko“ mine, as she said, has the best monitoring, precisely because it is known to be a „methane“ mine.

She added that it was necessary to make a plan about which underground mine should be closed, adding that in that case the state would provide an alternative for all workers.

According to her, the largest amount of coal from the „Soko“ mine is sold to Elektroprivreda Srbije (EPS) because it is high-quality coal, with a high calorific value, with less ash and sulfur than lignite.

The state, as she said, allocates 45 million euros a year for the public company PEU „Resavica“, which also includes the „Soko“ mine, where more than 3,500 people work and it is the obligation of the state to take care of them, „because they did not even have health insurance in 2012“.

„For years, we have been discussing which mines should operate and can be profitable, and which cannot, but the state will certainly provide an alternative for all the people in that part of Serbia,“ Mihajlovic said.

Izvor: Beta

Foto: Beta