Dagestani villagers urge Melikov to intervene in land conflict

Without owners' consent, they are planning to give the land plots belonging to villagers in the Rutulsky District into long-time lease, local residents have complained in their video appeal to Sergey Melikov, the head of Dagestan. The prosecutor's office has initiated a check of the villagers' information, the district administration has assured.

The video appeal to Mr Melikov was posted in the Telegram channel of the "Novoye Delo" outlet.

"The land plots allotted to the people standing here are seized without permission ... Without asking the land owners, their plots are handed over to unknown people ... We urge you to intervene in our problems ... They are taking away, secretly from us, these land plots and giving them to someone for 49 years. And where should we go?" asked one of the villagers.

He has clarified that earlier this territory was under a collective farm garden with the area of nine hectares.

"Please help! Leave our lands; otherwise no one will remain in our villages. How can livestock breeders and farmers live without land? Everything here is captured by those who have power and money," the textual version of the appeal states.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on December 30, 2022, a video appeal from the residents of the village of Akhatly to Sergey Melikov was released. The villagers complained that areas of the Kumtorkalin District, attractive for tourism located near the Chirkei Reservoir, were being transferred into private ownership without villagers' consent, while local officials stay inactive.

Earlier, on December 20, 2022, residents of the village of Khamamyurt, Khasavyurt District, complained in their video appeal to the head of Dagestan that villagers had nowhere to graze their livestock, because officials were selling land plots suitable for grazing, and wouldn't react to villagers' outrage.