Residents of Muthu Raj Nagar in Chettinaickanpatti panchayat near here threatened to boycott the Assembly election and not to allow candidates to enter the village for campaigning on Sunday as Dindigul Corporation has been using an open area at their village as garbage dump.
Despite repeated appeals, the corporation did not take any steps to shift the dump yard to a distant area, they said.
The residents had been reeling under the stench emanating from the dump and the resultant air pollution for the past 20 years.
Burning of garbage during summer had affected residents, especially children and aged people, not only in Muthu Raj Nagar but also in Karunanidhi Nagar, Murugabhavanam, Chellandi Amman Temple area and nearby residential colonies, situated on the western part of Dindigul city, they claimed.
The people said that they were tired of submitting petitions to authorities, observing fast, appealing to elected bodies, staging demonstrations and blocking road to draw the attention of the district administration and the government.
But nothing had changed the situation.
