Villagers resist garbage dump in their backyard

• 80 persons arrested and 60 released later l Minister Ganta's hand seen behind the moveA
• Human Rights Forum condemns the move and moves SHRC

Anakapalli (Visakhapatnam): The sensitive garbage dumping yard issue suddenly turned violent when the vehicles carrying garbage from the town were directed to the dumping yard area identified in Atchayyapet village amid tight police security on Friday in the presence of the Municipal Commissioner Muralidhara Rao, the RDO Rangaiah, DSP V S R Murty and Mandal Tahsildar. The police took more than 80 villagers including women and children of Atchayyapet into preventive custody besides resorting to mild canning on the angry youth who put heavy rocks to block the vehicular traffic. It may be recalled here that the villagers of Atchayyapet, Sundarayyapet, Mondipalem, Seetanagaram, Sampathpuram, Venkupalem and BRT Colony in the mandal have been opposing the dumping of town garbage in the yard earmarked near Atchayyapet. However, reports said that Minister Ganta Srinivasa Rao was very particular in shifting the garbage from the Sarada riverbed yard to the new place and asked the officials on Thursday to take it as a challenge. However, the officials tried on Thursday; they failed when the situation turned tense as the garbage vehicles were forcibly turned back from the new dumping yard. The officials deployed heavy police bandobust in the village and shifted the garbage. As a precautionary measure, the police imposed prohibitory orders under Section 144 to check untoward incidents. The situation in Atchayyapet village and its surroundings was stated to be tense but under control. Meanwhile, a team of Human Rights Forum led by V S Krishna reached the village and assessed the situation. Krishna severely condemnned the brutal attitude of police, municipal and the revenue wings. He questioned how they could shift the garbage to the new dumping yard without approvals from the Panchayat and the Pollution Control Board. He termed it as a violation of human rights guaranteed under the Constitution. "We complained to the State Human Rights Commission to take necessary action against the erring officials," he added. Meanwhile, the police released 60 villagers from the custody and booked cases against 20 persons including two women. However, the villagers demanded that the police release all in one go. Residents of surrounding villages threatened to intensify the agitation from Saturday.