Residents of Georgian village of Ditsi challenge sell of land to Indian farmers

Residents of the village of Ditsi, Gori District of Georgia filed a complaint with the prosecutor's office and lodged a lawsuit to the court about the illegal, as they consider, sale of 140 hectares of land to farmers from India.

On April 4, Ditsi villagers disrupted the planting of apple trees in the lands that were sold to citizens of India. The news about the sale of land was quite a surprise for the peasants of the village. On April 9, the complaint and the lawsuit were lodged to the prosecutor's office and the court accordingly.

As stated by Kakha Kukava, the leader of the "Free Georgia" Party, who visited the village, the sale of land to foreign nationals is often done by means of corrupt deals. The Georgian legislation, as Mr Kukava has explained, "prohibits selling land to foreigners as long as a six-month-long proposal to the local population has expired." In the village of Ditsi, locals did not receive such a proposal.

"The residents learned about the sale of land only when new owners – representatives of Indian companies – appeared in the village," said Kakha Kukava and supported the demand of the villagers to invalidate the privatization, the "Georgia Online" reports.

A similar conflict arose in the village of Saniore, Telavi District, where local residents have protested against the sale of agricultural land to entrepreneurs from Arab countries of the Middle East. Local residents say that in 2011 the government sold 47 hectares of land to the Arab company "G. Hervid", the edition "Big Caucasus" writes.