ASSOCIATED FOR CLEANER AND PLEASANT NEIGHBORHOODS - ASSOCIATION OF CITIZENS KOTEŽ

The unnecessary division of Belgrade into the right and left banks of the Danube and the neglect of settlements outside the center unfairly puts the citizens of suburban settlements in the background. If it takes you more than half an hour from Republic Square to your home and you are trapped in unbearable traffic jams on Pancevački most every day, you probably live in one of them (some would say - "behind God's feet").

One of the five settlements on the Left Bank of the Danube, it was once considered the greenest in Belgrade. Settlement cottage, home to about 15 thousand people, only 6 kilometers from the center, today it is neglected. Kotež residents are faced with a large number of communal and environmental problems. Although the government does not listen to their problems, they decided not to leave the fate of their settlement to chance. The Kotež citizens' association was founded in 2017 and to this day can boast of numerous actions.

It started spontaneously, but with a problem that was the trigger for Kotežani to self-organize. Namely, 6 years ago there was an environmental disaster. "The sewerage pipe in Borčan has burst, near the village of Kotež. It literally created a lake with sewage that poisoned the environment. Then I invited a couple of friends to come to the scene and while I was making a statement, I said: We, the united citizens of Kotež... That's when I realized that we really need to unite formally." remembers Predrag Dučić, one of the founders of the association.

This is just one of a series of environmental problems in Kotež. In the immediate vicinity there are around 60 garbage dumps, a long-standing problem of open sewage and the former green oasis, Jojkić's Dunavac, into which sewage flows. The residents of Kotež organized an unusual walking tour and expressed their revolt in a humorous way. The Last Minute Kotež adventure included a tour of the four most polluted locations - the abandoned park, the Kalovita canal, Kotežanska Vinča and Jojkić's Dunavac. In this way, they pointed out their problems and attracted the attention of a large number of media. In an original way, while hanging out and talking, they raise money for humanitarian causes at the same time they voice their demands and objections. The manifestation held this summer, symbolically named - Let's sing from pain, is also authentic. The residents of Koteža were singing out of pain because, as they say, they were completely neglected by the official state institutions. "We from UGK have been fighting for our basic human rights for years." The most interesting action was in which the citizens of this settlement planted flowers in the potholes on the road, because the Belgrade road did not respond to their requests. The holes were soon repaired, and the people of Kotežan proved that a positive attitude, courage and common struggle can bear fruit.