In Dagestan, Karanai-Aul residents complain of the speaker

On March 31, residents of Karanai-Aul village, Kayaken District of Dagestan, sent a letter to President of Russia Dmitri Medvedev with a complaint against the actions of Magomed Suleimanov, incumbent speaker of the republic's parliament, when he was mayor of the city of Izberbash.

Umar Garisov, one of the authors of the letter, said to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that the basis for the complaint was his careless command of the land of the city. "Today in Karanai-Aul 1780 persons live in 380 houses. 530 of them need better housing conditions. These are mainly young families who have to live with their parents. They all had applied for land plots to build their own houses, but the village has no free land; all the land was taken by the state," said Mr Garisov. 

It all started in 1941, when over thousand hectares were granted to "Dagneft" Trust of the city of Izberbash. Later, land plots were consistently given to resettlers from Dakhadaev and Levashin Districts, and from Chechnya. 

By the Decree of the Government of Dagestan No. 9-r of January 11, 2002, 34 hectares more were provided to Izberbash. The signatories of the letter assert that Magomed Suleimanov, former mayor of Izberbash (nowadays - speaker of the parliament of Dagestan), sold all the land for individual house construction, although he was obliged to use it for the needs of the city. Allegedly, he had sold out coastal recreational land plots of the Caspian Sea. 

Suleimanov is also accused of nepotism and abuse of his service duties: after his move to Makhachkala his brother became the mayor of Izberbash, and the post of bakery director was given to his son. Suleimanov also owns a shopping centre, a bank and an asphalt factory. 

Mr Garisov said that their numerous appeals to republic's leadership gave no effect. 

In their letter, residents of Karanai-Aul also complain of absence of normal potable water in their village. In 2003, the water pipe Kolichi- Karanai-Aul was opened, which worked just for 3 days. Two years later, another water line - Gasha- Karanai-Aul was launched, but the arriving water is very dirty. Residents of Karanai-Aul hope that Russian President's interference will improve the situation. 

The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent failed to get any comments at the regional administration and press service of the parliamentary speaker of Dagestan.