Categories
Journalistic Survey
Articles
Reportage
Analitic
Photo Reportage
Exclusive
Interview
Foreign Media about Georgia
Editorial
Position
Reader's opinion
Blog
Themes
Children's Rights
Women's Rights
Justice
Refugees/IDPs
Minorities
Media
Army
Health
Corruption
Elections
Education
Penitentiary
Religion
Others

Residents of Ruispiri Accuse the Minister of the Environmental Protection of Indifference

August 18, 2010
Gela Mtivlishvili, Kakheti

The residents of the village Ruispiri, region Telavi accuse the Minister of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of indifference. They are asking him to visit their village. Otherwise, the population will hold protest rallies at the Ministry of Environmental Protection as a form of their protest.

In the surrounding areas of the village, in the valley of the river Turdo, asphalt factory of the company “Serpantini” and the stone quarry are operating. Some districts are wrapped in dust. The village is complaining about different diseases like asthma and allergic illnesses’ spreading in the village. According to the residents of Ruispiri, the asphalt factory and the stone quarry are polluting the environment that was reported to the Ministry of Environmental Protection and local services numerous times but to no avail.

“When the asphalt factory is working, the whole village is wrapped in dust and the harsh smell of black oil prevails. We permanently suffer from the headache and cough till choking,” – sais the resident of Ruispiri Aleksandre Samkharadze.
.
“There is no harvest in the garden. Everything is covered with a sick layer of dust. Sometimes the dust is so bad, that we can’t even see people in 10 meters. The asphalt factory has been operating for a long time now, but the situation has worsened for the last 2 months. Before, there were dust and smoke, the oil smell as well, but the situation was not this intolerable,” – says Lia Bosashvili.

According to the head of the Environmental Protection Inspection Kakheti Bureau, Soso Abuladze, the environment has been polluted in the village Ruispiri on a serious level. “There are two asphalt factories and three inert materials workshops in Ruispiri. We need to study the area to see which workshop exactly pollutes the environment, is it dust or smoke that’s bothering the village. Our service doesn’t have an official basis, permission or command to control the territory of the businessman. The village needs to address the Ministry of Environmental Protection. We’ll be able to find out the reasons after receiving the Ministry permission,’’ – stated Ioseb Abuladze.
According to the assistant of LLC “Serpantini,” the asphalt factory doesn’t meet the standard requirements, but the “smoke is not toxic and doesn’t endanger human health.”
“The smoke from the asphalt factory pollutes the environment. That’s why we are not working full time. We ordered filters, which will be produced in Ukraine and the situation will improve from September. As for the dust coming from the stone quarry, we can’t help it. We can’t stop the work for several complaints. This dust is not dangerous for human health,” – stated Nugzar Khutsaidze.

According to the residents of the village, the leadership of the asphalt factory has been promising them to montage the filters for 2 years now. This is confirmed by the official of Ruispiri territorial organ of the Telavi municipality local government. “As I was promised, the filters should have been produced in May. The last time we spoke with the heads of the factory, we were told that they will produce them in September. September will start soon,” – says the governor of the village.

The “Open Civic Initiative for the Environmental Protection” called on the Ministry to urgently react upon the problem of the village Ruispiri, but the Ministry has not shown interest in this matter yet.

“The specialist shall quickly learn about the situation in the village Ruispiri in Telavi Region and in case of a confirmation of the fact of environmental pollution, shall react adequately,” – states the coordinator of the “Open Civic Initiative for Environmental Protection.”

The Ministry of the Environmental Protection and Natural Resources did not comment on this issue.

News