May 11, 2022

11:05

Ívina Garcia – Cenarium Magazine

MANAUS – The Court of Justice of the Amazonas (TJAM) determined on Monday, 9, that the public entities and inspection agencies present, within 30 days, an action plan for the removal of the floating houses in Tarumã-Açu, in the Midwest of Manaus.

In the order signed by Judge Etelvina Braga, the magistrate recorded that the process has been underway for more than twenty years, without the decision to withdraw has been fulfilled, and still requires the adoption of measures to discipline the licensing and activity of these structures.

“(…) thus, in order to expedite the fulfillment of the above decision, I believe it is necessary to hold a hearing with the ministerial representative (MPE), the public entities and inspection agencies for, through a joint action, to draw up an action plan,” he recorded.

The Prosecutor of Justice Francisco de Assis Aires Argüelles, from the 50th Prosecutor’s Office of the Environment of the Public Ministry of Amazonas, believes that “by the complexity of the situation, you can not meet, simply, and determine a withdrawal,” he believes that the process should be done, little by little, “in a way that people who made these irregular occupations will be minimally affected or you can seek to recover the environment without causing a greater upset, without they are not aware and can not have time to withdraw from the site,” he explained.

Two decades in TJAM

The lawsuit that asks for the removal of the Tarumã-Açu floats has been circulating for more than 20 years in the Court of Justice of Amazonas (TJAM). The complaint made by the State Public Ministry (MPE), in 2001, reported about 40 irregular constructions; currently, the number is over 900, according to the records.

The decision to remove the floating structures from the area was made in 2004 by the judge of the Specialized Court for Environment and Agrarian Issues (Vemaqa), Adalberto Carim Antônio, after the Prosecutor of Justice Mauro Bezerra filed a Public Civil Action in September 2001, i.e. 21 years without the determination being fulfilled.

Environmental Impacts

The invasion of the floating houses has caused a series of environmental problems and navigability in the area. According to State Attorney Daniel Viegas, the main point emphasized in the hearing held on Monday, 9, is about safety and environmental degradation.

Viegas recalled that at the beginning of the lawsuit the municipality was the defendant in the suit, but that now they are all together in an effort to resolve the issue. “The discussion is no longer who is the plaintiff and who is the defendant, but what each one can do to solve this environmental problem,” concluded Daniel Viegas.

‘Basin Plan’

The president of the Tarumã River Floaters Association, Lúcio Bezerra, in answer to CENARIUM, informed that the association is discussing with the summoned bodies to present the action plan, but the registration still moves slowly. “With the Brazilian Navy, the regularization is clear and defined, with the other agencies this regulation is still being discussed, only the Ipaam has advanced with the requirement of the grants for capture and release”, he said.

About the 900 irregular floating pointed by the MPE, Lúcio said that the permanence of floating depends on the determination of a committee. “The presentation of the Basin Plan is being prepared by the Tarumã-Açu Watershed Committee. The plan will determine, among other issues, the capacity of the Tarumã water body”, he explained.