In Dagestan, villagers demand to close oil refinery

A rally against the oil refinery was held in the village of Berikei in the Derbent District. More than 800 people took part in the action. The claims against the operation of the plant were also voiced by residents of the neighbouring village of Djemikent, the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent reports.

The rally was organized by an initiative group of the Berikei villagers.

The plant was built in the Berikei village in 2012. It is a private enterprise, and it employs no more than ten people. The villagers said that from the very beginning, they protested against the construction of an oil refinery, but then owners of the plant promised the local residents that the production would be as harmless as possible.

"The people trusted them, but in fact, everything turned out to be different," the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was told by Alisultan Alisultanov, one of the rally organizers.

According to him, the villagers suffer from smells, which accompany the production of petroleum products.

"At our place, it is very hard to breath, especially in the morning, when they start oil refining," Alisultan Alisultanov said.

The Berikei villagers filed complaints to the local authorities, but in response they got counter accusations that their houses were built illegally and they themselves had no right to protest.

According to the activist, his fellow villagers appealed to the Dagestani Environmental Prosecutor's Office, to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Ecology, to the Derbent District authorities, and to former Dagestani leader Ramazan Abdulatipov, but did not succeed.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.