Tension again erupted at Daruthenga village on the city outskirts on Thursday as a large number of villagers, including women, waylaid the garbage-carrying vehicles trying to enter the BMC’s dumping yard at Bhuasuni Mouza of Daruthenga and clashed with police.
As many as 20 villagers were detained by the police.
In the morning, hundreds of villagers gathered at the spot protesting dumping of waste materials in their locality. Though Commissioner of Police YB Khurania, Khordha district Collector Niranjan Sahu and Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) Commissioner Krishan Kumar along with 18 platoons of police force were present on the spot to pacify the agitators, the protesters bluntly opposed dumping of wastes in the locality.
The situation soon became tense as the villagers clashed with police while the police escorted the vehicles to forcibly enter the dumping yard. At the end, the vehicles managed to dump the garbage.
Meanwhile, Daruthenga Sarpanch Prasanta Routray demanded immediate release of the detainees, failing which they would intensify the agitation, he said.
The Daruthenga residents have been opposing the dumping yard near their village on grounds of health hazards and environmental problem. Even, opposition BJP and Congress have also supported the villagers and demanded shifting of the dumping yard.