Residents of Chechnya sceptical about resettlement to Galanchozh District

The Chechen authorities have begun collecting information on those who wish to move to the restored Galanchozh District, without promising any support. The district has no infrastructure, workplaces and housing, residents of Chechnya have noted.

According to Ramzan Kadyrov, since November 2018, the authorities of Chechnya are trying to create in the territories bordering on Ingushetia "all the conditions for life, leisure and attraction of tourists." Local authorities intend to populate these non-inhabited areas.

"The district has no roads, no electricity, no gas, no water supply, and, most importantly, no workplaces. I'm not ready to leave everything and move there," said Ramzan, a resident of Grozny.

Patimat, a local resident, is also sceptical. "I don't think that at the beginning there will be a lot of people willing to move to Galanchozh ... Life in remote villages is difficult enough; and modern young people, especially urban ones, are not ready for this," she said.

The main problem for resettlers is the issue of housing, said Lechi, a republic's resident.

Nevertheless, there are people willing to move to the Galanchozh District, should the proper conditions are created there.

It should be noted here that before the Stalinist deportation of Chechens, the Galanchozh District numbered over 150 villages and farmsteads. After the Chechens' return to their homeland in 1957, residents of the district were forbidden to settle in these places. In November 2012, the Chechen Parliament passed a law on the restoration of the Galanchozh District.