15:11, 9 June 2005

Local government accused of embezzlement

Residents of Ninotsminda, Sagarejo district, Georgia, demand that the local government should solve the problem of pollution of the surrounding environment caused by an oil spill from a well, News Georgia agency says.

Ninotsminda residents held a public meeting near the village administration on 9 June demanding that the government should solve this problem that had arisen as far back as on 10 September 2004 when a spill had occurred at a well belonging to a Georgian-British oil company during drilling. As a result, around 60 hectares of land and vineyards were polluted.

Village residents say the company had allocated cash assets to eliminate the after-effects of the accident and to pay compensations to the population of Ninotsminda, but the village administration misappropriated this money.

The incidence rate of various diseases among the local population has grown higher currently, according to village residents. Forest is dying out in the polluted territory and there are certain problems with water supply.