Ecologists from Kislovodsk ask the President of the Russian Federation to help them maintain the health resort

Public Environmental Council with the Administration of Kislovodsk sent an open letter to President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Medvedv reporting site development of mountain sanitary safeguarded zones of forming narzan with buildings of improper purpose and asking to "stop destruction of Kislovodsk health resort immediately".

The message was also directed to Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, Plenipotentiary of the President in South-Caucasian Federal Okrug Alexander Khloponin, Governor of Stavropol region Valery Gaevsky and Deputy of State Duma of the Russian Federation from Stavropol region Stanislav Govorukhin.

In their appeal the non-governmental ecologists report that during the last ten years "regular construction of buildings of improper purpose… at the border of the first and second mountain sanitary safeguarded zones of forming narzan… has been going on with the connivance of local authorities".

It is also stated in the message that the Central area of Kislovodsk deposit "undergoes a tremendous technogenic load because the whole territory is liable to a large-scale pollution".

"The process may become irreversible any moment and result in a social and political outburst as well as in environmental and social disasters", the authors of the appeal point out and demand from the addressees to "stop this outrage, by a compulsory decision eliminate all the violations of the above mentioned federal laws and punish all those guilty".

Svetlana Bogdanova, journalist and member of Public Environmental Council, explained to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that the ecologists intended to hand the message to Vladimir Putin during the Forum of the Peoples of the Russian South held in "Zarya" sanatorium of the President's registered office in Kislovodsk on January, 23, but failed to do it.

According to Bogdanova, the Council brought into play all the distribution facilities available: mail, e-mail, feedback forms on official web-sites of governmental bodies as well as the blogosphere and social networks but there has been no official response yet.

Mikhail Lupandin, Press secretary of Kislovodsk Administration, considers the accusations brought by non-governmental ecologists biased. He points out that during the recent years Mayor's office has carried out active and intensive work on putting the sphere of nature management in order which has never been done before. In particular, a new general layout of development of the health resort up to 2030 was adopted, a register of the green belt in the territory of Kislovodsk is being worked out and the borders of the forests are being clarified.

Besides, according to Lupandin, spot checks round the objects under construction in cooperation with representatives of the community and journalists are regularly organized and their results are reported in detail in local mass media and at the official web-site of Mayor's office.