The removal of garbage from the town, which was on a standstill for the past one week, resumed on Saturday under tight police security amidst continuing agitation by the action council. The lifting of garbage from the town was facilitated by a ruling by the High Court, which allowed the authorities to remove the waste and dump it at the yard under the supervision of senior officials. The process will continue till Tuesday.
The agitation by local people, which had turned into a siege of the dumping yard, had resulted in garbage piling up across the town, posing a grave threat to public health.
Though the action council had allowed the municipality to dump waste at the yard last Monday, they resumed the agitation saying that the authorities had failed to fulfil their undertakings regarding the corrective measures to be carried out at the dumping yard.
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The attempt on the part of the municipal authorities to dump garbage at the yard last week was foiled by the agitators as the district authorities refused to provide police security. In the light of the increasing resentment among the agitators, the municipal chairperson had approached the High court for extending police security. In their prayer, the municipal authorities had also made it clear they would take measures to control the leachate flow from the yard.
Meanwhile, a team from the Pollution Control Board had expressed apprehensions that the town was under threat of a major outbreak of communicable diseases in the light of the failure to remove garbage.
It was against this backdrop that the High Court directed the authorities to remove garbage and also to extend protection for the municipal workers to ensure the dumping of waste at the yard.
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When the garbage-laden vehicles arrived at the yard, protesters tried to block the vehicles, but the police removed them. Action council leaders said they would continue the agitation till the yard was shifted from Vadavathoor.