Dagestani villagers cut off pipe used by distillery to drain wastes into canal

Residents of the village of Komsomolskoe of the Kizilyurt District of Dagestan twice a week cut off the pipe, through which Limited Liability Company (LLC) "Akom", the distillery plant, discharged waste products into the channel named after the October Revolution.

The residents of the village told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that the distillery plant operates for about 10 years. Only at the beginning of its activity, the plant exported waste products to specially designated place.

On June 22, the residents of the village again had to cut the pipe, through which waste products of the distillery plant "Akom" flowed into the channel. This was reported by Rustam Shapiev, a resident of the village of Komsomolskoe.

"We have repeatedly told the owners of the distillery plant to stop pollute the water; however, they did not listen to us. We have repeatedly appealed to the court and the Committee on Ecology. The court has three times pronounced the decision on recognition of the LLC 'Akom' guilty of administrative violation and decided to suspend the activities of the distillery plant for 10 days and then for 20 days," Rustam Shapiev says.

"However, the distillery plant continued to work, and on June 22, the villagers cut off and removed the very pipe, through which the waste products were discharged into the water," Rustam Shapiev has added.

Kazbek Abdullaev, the administration head of the village of Komsomolskoe, said that after the residents had cut off the pipe, representatives of the LLC "Akom" visited them and told them that they would lay sewer pipes in such a way that waste waters would not flow in the territory of the village of Komsomolskoe.

"They told us that they would extend the pipes beyond our village to the village of Stalskoe. Thus, they want to calm us down; however, we disagree on that. After all, there are also people in that village. We want them to install proper water treatment facilities," Kazbek Abdullaev has stated.

Residents of the village of Komsomolskoe declare that they will not allow the distillery plant discharging sewage also in the territories of other villages.

On June 26, the resident of the village of Komsomolskoe found out that at the place, where earlier they had cut off the pipe, welding works were carried out, and new pipes were brought there. Villagers, human rights defenders, and Gadjimurad Khakimov, the head of the Kizilyurt Inter-District Committee on Ecology arrived in the place, forced to stop all works and took the pipes away.

According to the villagers, till the distillery plant fails to take the necessary measures and establish water treatment facilities, they will not allow it operating in full.

The correspondent was told at the Kizilyurt Inter-District Committee on Ecology that about a year ago, they received a complaint from the administration head and the residents of the village of Komsomolskoe, which pointed out that the LLC "Akom" discharged waste products directly into the channel.

"We have conducted a checking and demanded to cease discharge into the water. Representatives of the distillery plant assured us that the pipe would be removed. The repeated checking revealed that the LLC "Akom" failed to fulfil our requirements. The Committee on Ecology has fined the distillery plant 370,000 roubles. At present, we file an appeal to the City Prosecutor's Office and demanded to stop the activities of the distillery plant," Gadjimurad Khakimov said.

According to the "Rospotrebnadzor" (Russian Federal Agency for Consumer Supervision) in the Republic of Dagestan in Kizilyurt, discharge of sewage is carried out without consultation with the institution. Meanwhile, the water in the channel named after the October Revolution at the point of discharge of waste products does not meet sanitary standards.

According to Murtazali Tagirov, the head of the human rights organization "Fighter for Justice", he has personally repeatedly brought water samples from the point of discharge of waste products to the Testing Laboratory Centre.

"The laboratory confirmed that the water does not meet sanitary standards and that it was dangerous to health. Experts from the laboratory told me that those persons, who consume that water, would not avoid surgeries," Murtazali Tagirov stated.

Till present, no comments from owners of the LLC "Akom", the distillery plant, are available.

When the correspondent tried to get comments from workers of the distillery plant, they refused to introduce themselves.

"We discharge into the channel only technical water that we use for cooling, and it is cleaner than the water, which flows in the channel," a representative of the distillery plant stated.

In their turn, the residents of the village claim they have video and photo materials, proving that the distillery plant discharges into the channel waste products and not technical water.