A village of 1,100 residents in the northern prefecture of Kozani is to become the seventh small community obliged to relocate, albeit a few kilometers away, so that the Public Power Corporation (PPC) can access underground deposits of lignite to fuel its regional coal plants.

The residents of Pontokomi, whose ancestors moved to Kozani as refugees in the exchange of populations from Turkey in 1922, have voted to relocate to a site on the outskirts of the city of Kozani as most of the infrastructure is already in place.

Residents were concerned as well about the proximity of their village to lignite-mining operations and the possible impact on the health of their children.

The move, slated for completion by 2015, will be the seventh by a village in Kozani to the benefit of PPC.

“The relocation of settlements in the prefecture is a sacrifice that our fellow citizens are making for the development of the country at large,” Kozani Prefect Giorgos Dakis told Kathimerini.