Tension prevailed in Andhra's C Rampuram village, after municipal authorities, along with the police, resumed dumping garbage from Tirupati city, to the dumping ground near the village on Friday.
This came after garbage had piled up for days, as the villagers had been protesting against the dumping yard, and had blocked the road with heaps of garbage.
The Hindu reported that officials imposed Section 144 in the area, even as 30 protestors including YSRCP MLA Chevireddy Bhaskar Reddy were arrested at different locations and shifted to police stations.
The report adds that scores of tractors and trucks had lined up at the village, to dispose of the waste, with officials stating that as much as 800 tonne of garbage would dumped at the yard.
According to reports, it has been a long standing conflict, with locals stating that the garbage was causing all sorts of health hazards to them.
After the protest gathered momentum this month, officials and local representatives conducted a meeting last week, and decided that garbage could be dumped in the village, until June 22, when Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu planned to visit Tirupati.
“The decade-old problem has remained dormant. Let us not dwell on the past and lose focus on the present situation. We are with the residents and fully support their decision for shifting the dump yard to a new site. All we request is a few days’ time for the officials and Mr. Naidu to take the decision,” Chittoor MP N. Sivaprasad said at the time.
However, when officials didn't stop the dumping of garbage on June 22, irate villagers took to the streets and blocked the road to the dumpyard.
A day later, authorities of the Municipal Corporation of Tirupati (MCT) cracked down on them, and started dumping garbage from 3am in the morning.
Interestingly, one of the proposals that came up during the talks involved the setting up of a plant to convert waste into energy by a private company.
However, locals opposed it, as they wanted the dumping yard to shift from their village for good.