Provincial official blasts PM's "panic-spreading attitude"

Provincial official blasts PM's "panic-spreading attitude"

Ješić, an official of the Democratic Party - in power on the provincial level, but in opposition in the Serbian parliament - heads the emergency headquarters set up in Vojvodina to deal with the natural disaster.

"I expected precise information from the government, messages of calm, and operative, smart people. (Instead) we had disinformation from the government, where Vučić would say in a panicked tone that "the second wave is coming," while engineers monitoring the Sava (River) said it was dropping 30 centimeters a day," he said.

Asked "whether he as accusing the prime minister of spreading panic," Ješić replied: "Absolutely."

"I expected that, since they were broadcasting a government session live, that it would not be some Monty Python-like reality show, but would provide reliable information. Vodoprivreda (water management enterprise) officials had to respond to some of that information by saying, 'Mr. prime minister, what you are saying is not true.' He chose yes-men and this could not be expected from them."

Ješić also criticized "the controlled media" for sensationalist reporting.

"We could not pass through to build an embankment in Rača. People were cutting up (sand) bags in Sremska Mitrovica. We had no idea why they were preventing us, until we saw it on Pink (TV) that we allegedly had decides to flood them."

He stressed that "not a single life was in danger in Vojvodina thanks to the preparedness of the provincial authorities, investments in Vodoprivreda, and the existing flood defense plans"

Ješić also commented on the choices made by the local authorities in the hard-hit town of Obrenovac, to say that "based on weather forecasts, sirens should have been sounded and a part of Obrenovac evacuated."