The lack of cleaning of agricultural and forestry land, to prevent rural fires, has already resulted in “around” 2.5 million euros in administrative offenses since 2020, an official source from the Republican National Guard (GNR) told Lusa.
Braga is the third district in the country where the most administrative offenses were raised: 2,660.
Among the districts with the lowest record of non-compliance with fuel management, Viana do Castelo has 468 fines imposed.
“Since 2020, I can tell you that the amount that has already entered, in a very high way, is around two and a half million [de euros]”, stated Lieutenant Colonel Ricardo Vaz Alves, from the direction of the Nature and Environment Protection Service (SEPNA) of the GNR.
To understand what generated the 2.5 million euros collected, the official explained that we are “talking about 140 euros for natural persons and 800 euros for legal persons”, at the minimum of the administrative offence, allowing us to have “an idea of the number of cases” that had “the final decision being the payment of a fine, because that is not always the decision”.
“Sometimes there is a decision to admonish, which is also legally admissible, a decision to archive due to lack of evidence and a decision to pay half the amount, also depending on the severity, the process or even the resolution of the process itself, the good faith, in this case, of the resolution”, he added.
The fines foreseen for the lack of cleaning of forestry and agricultural land, which must be carried out every year by April 30th, can reach 5000 euros for natural persons and 25,000 for legal entities, amounts that vary according to the respective City Council.
According to data sent to Lusa, between 2018 and 2023, the GNR recorded the greatest non-compliance with land cleaning, in descending order, in the districts of Santarém (4,131 administrative offences), Castelo Branco (2,816), Braga (2,660), Coimbra (2,061) and Aveiro (1,802).
The districts with the lowest record of non-compliance with fuel management, in the same period, were Évora (215 fines), Bragança (295), Portalegre (375), Viana do Castelo (468) and Beja (756).
From 2018 to 2023, the GNR totaled 26,140 administrative offenses due to lack of cleaning of forest land and, from 2019 to last year, registered 3,419 for burning and 1,359 for burning.
This year, inspection of land cleaning only starts on May 1st.
Taking into account the number of signs of lack of cleaning, between 2019 and 2023, in a first check, without fines, the GNR military registered the highest number in the districts of Leiria (23,557), Santa-rém (11,786) , Viseu (9,922), Castelo Branco (7,150) and Coimbra (7,701), and lower defaults in Évora (675), Porto (1,329), Portalegre (1,419), Beja (1,564) and Bragança (1,751).
