Georgian authorities to resettle villagers of Vedzatkhevi cut off from outside world

The administration of the Dusheti District (Georgia), where the village of Vedzatkhevi is located, which was cut off from the outside world by a landslide in autumn of 2010, are going to fully resettle the villagers.

"People should not live there; it's a landslide area; the road is constantly blocked; and houses are falling apart in the village. We are now looking for a way out of this situation; we plan to resettle villagers to some other place and are now working on it. It's too early to say when and where they will be relocated," said Lali Mkheidze, the chief specialist for tourism development of the district administration.

According to her story, in one of the nearby large villages – Argun – has vacant summer cottages. At present, negotiations are underway with their owners to buy them for residents of Vedzatkhevi.

In autumn 2010, eleven families of the village of Vedzatkhevi, located 12 kilometres away from Dusheti (the region of Mtskheta-Mtianeti), found themselves in isolation from the outside world as a result of a landslide, which blocked the only road leading to the district centre.

"Our village is in a deadlock; the distance to the neighbouring village Veltaurebi, from where there is a road to Dusheti, is about 3.5 kilometres. Part of this road is blocked, as it passes through a gorge, and every time heavy rains cause landslides," Tamar Inashvili, a resident of Vedzatkhevi, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.