Residents of two Georgian villages hold protest demanding to compensate damage from natural disasters

On April 22, in Tbilisi and Telavi, rural residents held protest actions, demanding to give promised compensations for the damage inflicted to their farms by natural disasters in the summer of 2012.

On January 18, at the meeting, the Ministry of Regional Development and Infrastructure of Georgia made a decision to pay compensations in the amount of 95 million laris to farmers in Kakheti. On January 21, a representative of the Ministry stated that 28,000 families are to receive compensations, and the amount of compensation is determined for each family.

In Tbilisi, residents of the village of Chikaani of the Kvareli District held a protest action near the Ministry of Regional Development and Infrastructure. According to the protesters' version, they were mostly affected by the natural disaster in 2012; however, they had never received any compensation.

The residents of the village of Chikaani demanded to establish a new commission for evaluating the damage, since the previous commission, according to their version, had failed to perform its duties in good faith, the "Ekho Kavkaza" (Echo of the Caucasus) reports.

Another protest action was held in Telavi, where residents of the village of Ruispiri gathered in front of the municipality building. They stated that they were affected during the natural disasters in the summer of 2012 and that their damage was calculated incorrectly. The villagers also demanded to establish a new commission to re-calculate the damage inflicted to them.

During the protest action, about 30 villagers broke into the administrative office of the municipality, the "Georgia Online" reports.