Davor Bušljeta, who lives about a hundred meters from the illegal dump, described years of fear and distrust in institutions to Nova TV's Dnevnik, while the PM announces accelerated cleanup of 37,000 tons of waste and strict punishment for those responsible.
While Prime Minister Andrej Plenković assures the public that the government is approaching the cleanup of the illegal dump in Gospić seriously and responsibly, residents living in the immediate vicinity tell a different story. Davor Bušljeta, whose home is about a hundred meters from the disputed site, gave a harrowing account to Nova TV's Dnevnik of years of continuous waste deliveries and fear for his family's health.
Bušljeta claims that from 2021 to 2025, trucks with waste arrived at the site non-stop. "Trucks came 24 hours a day," he said, describing the intensity of traffic that, in his words, was impossible to miss. Drivers would stop and ask for directions to the dump, and machinery mostly worked at night. To the locals, the whole operation looked like a big, well-organized business. "From 2021, 2022, 2023, right up to 2025, they came constantly, 24 hours a day. Crowds! Crowds, lots of trucks, machinery. The machines worked at night, let's be honest, not during the day, but the trucks were non-stop. They'd stop, ask where to go, how to get there. It all looked like some kind of business, something commercial, something important," Bušljeta recounted, adding that the volume was so massive it simply couldn't be overlooked. "If we, as ordinary people, noticed it, how can someone else not notice it? I don't know," he wondered.
Due to the proximity of the dump, Bušljeta's family has been buying only bottled water for the second year in a row. Although PM Plenković stated in his Twitter post that "according to HZJZ measurements, there is no threat to drinking water in Lika," Bušljeta has no faith in such claims. He is particularly concerned about the potential impact of pollution on children's health and the long-term effects that particles from the dump could have if they spread through the air. "We're scared, of course we are. This is my family; there are young, small children here. We rebuilt our home here after the war, for the second time. I was born here, and we're afraid, in a way, for our health. Whether those particles fly everywhere, whether they harm everyone, no one has told us that yet," he said. He added that authorities did some testing, but the results were never shared with residents.
He described the mood among residents with one word: misery. If concrete cleanup doesn't start soon, Bušljeta is seriously considering moving his family to another city, or even leaving Croatia altogether. "This isn't just a disgrace; it's a tragedy in that regard," he said, urging authorities to act immediately.
The resident's statements directly clash with the narrative coming from the government. PM Plenković, in his Twitter posts, accused the opposition of "spreading panic with misinformation in an attempt to create a fabricated emergency situation" and said that everyone would approach the problem "calmly, rationally, seriously, professionally, and responsibly, without hysteria, panic, or drama."
Bušljeta, however, rejects claims of hysteria, suggesting that such a narrative might be a way to buy time. "Hysteria would have been if, on the day the state attorney released the findings, we had all gone out onto the road and sat there—that would have been hysteria. But this is nothing; this is mild—we've all gone through it quietly," he stressed. He believes that citizens have reacted extremely calmly given the years of ignoring the problem; there have been no blockades or mass protests. "We're not even angry. No one is angry—who's angry? I don't see anyone angry; there's no action, nothing's happening," he added. He is further concerned that, to his knowledge, not even the smallest amount of waste has been removed from the site. "Look, it's been sitting there for years, nothing's happening, nothing. Not a single shovel has been taken away, not a single bag has been removed, and no one even thinks it will be. I'm the first to believe that no one will take it away, unfortunately," he said. He also wondered how it was possible that ordinary citizens noticed the huge amounts of material while the authorities allegedly didn't know what was going on.
On the other hand, PM Plenković, after a meeting of the inner cabinet and the coalition held on August 11, 2026, announced a series of concrete measures. "We will speed up the cleanup process for a total of 37,000 tons of waste," he wrote, adding that all those who committed criminal acts will be held accountable, and the state will also seek reimbursement of funds for the cleanup.
The main messages from the meeting, as conveyed by the PM, are that the criminal process is underway, the cleanup is being accelerated, and the coalition is stable. He also emphasized that "the desire of all is to most severely sanction the perpetrators of these criminal acts," and that HZJZ will regularly report to the public on water quality in Lika. Plenković briefly commented on the opposition's initiative to impeach the government, expressing confidence that it will "end like many before it."
