Mahapanchayat in Ghaziabad village tomorrow over dumping ground row

Ghaziabad (UP), Feb 28 (PTI) A mahapanchayat will be held in Meerpur Hindu village on Sunday to protest against a local dumping ground, with Bharatiya Kisan Union leader Rakesh Tikait expected to attend as chief guest.

Farmers have been staging a sit-in for 13 consecutive days demanding the immediate removal of the garbage dumb site.

Neeraj Tyagi, the organiser of mahapanchayat told PTI on Saturday that Meerpur Hindu village was adopted for development by former Parliamentarian Gen (Retd) V K Singh.

Tyagi alleged that instead of the promised progress, residents have been burdened with a dumping ground that has made living conditions unbearable. He said the foul smell from the area has made life miserable for locals and that conditions have gone from "bad to worse." Earlier on February 15, the protest had turned violent when villagers reached the dumping ground and allegedly broke open the gates to stage a sit-in inside the facility. Protest leaders claimed the situation went out of control when unidentified individuals, allegedly associates of the landfill contractor, began pelting stones at police personnel.

In the ensuing chaos, police resorted to lathi charge. Protesters claimed that more than 60 farmers, including several women, were injured during the action.

A case was registered Neeraj Tyagi, Monu, Umesh and Ravindra Tyagi, Chetan and more than 100 unidentified villagers at the Tronica City police station the same day after a complaint was lodged by a sanitation and food inspector with the Ghaziabad Municipal Corporation.

In his complaint, the civic body official alleged that the accused, armed with sticks, forcibly entered the solid waste recycling plant by breaking the locks and pelted stones. PTI COR NAV AKY