Residents of Dagestani capital complain about census takers

Gadji Kadiev, a resident of Makhachkala, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that none of census takers visited his house at 19 Gamidov Avenue, where he lives with his family.

"My wife is at home all the time, but nobody came to us, although the census ends today. Nobody came to my neighbours; the same situation is in many neighbouring houses, despite the fact that several hundred persons live in our district," Gadji Kadiev said on October 25.

"I am a Karatin, but since 1926, by the will of leaders of Soviet Dagestan, we were registered as Avars, although we have our own language, culture and way of life. Now, Karatins want to restore historical truth, but if we aren't visited by census takers, we'll remain Avars," Mr Kadiev complained.

Meanwhile, another female resident of Makhachkala wrote in her blog quithands in LiveJournal that her family members were registered twice during this census.

Arsen Rustamov, head of the Statistics Division of Makhachkala, said that the problems during the census were caused by "technical issues." "Our census takers visit all the houses, but quite often they are either locked or people inside don't responds to calls. While the official census deadline is October 25, we have two days more at our disposal: we'll do control visits," he said.