21:20, 3 May 2010

Ochamchira residents block railway in Abkhazia

Today in the morning, residents of several villages of the Ochamchira District, located in Eastern Abkhazia, blocked the railway and stopped 13 cars that moved to take up to 700 tons of coal from Ochamchira.

They were angry with heavy pollution of the Galidzga River caused by open-pit coal mining. The protesters - up to 100 persons - demanded from the "Tamsash" Company to stop coal mining, and from the authorities - to react to what happens. The "Tamsash" is owned by Turkish businessmen.

As reported by the State Committee for Ecology and Nature Management of Abkhazia, the workers of the coal-mining enterprise should have stuck to the technology applied by them. In May 2007, four purification pools were commissioned, each having the capacity of 900 cubic meters.

"Today, the 'Tamsash' operation is suspended until all the circumstances are cleared out," said Roman Dbar, Chairman of the above Committee.