Several garbage trucks have been dumping dry and wet waste at Kalpalli crematorium for nearly three months now, alleged families living on the premises and around it. These trucks bear the banner of Seva Sankalp Abhiyan, a campaign to mark Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s 25 years in power, residents claimed. However, S. Raghu, C.V. Raman Nagar BJP MLA, denied that garbage is being dumped there.

The crematorium is home to 17 families from the Kalpalli burial ground and two from the electric crematorium. Many live in makeshift shelters on the premises, including those who work as grave diggers. The waste is dumped around their homes, near the crematorium’s registrar’s office and on the crematorium premises, they say. 

Seva Sankalp Abhiyan 

These trucks sport a banner of Seva Sankalp Abhiyan, a month-long campaign launched in September. Each vehicle has a picture of Mr. Raghu and Mr. Modi, residents alleged. 

However, Mr. Raghu dismissed the claims, saying that only wood from felled trees and leaves are taken to the crematorium to make manure, and no other waste is dumped there. He said people may have misused his name. He said he would be the “last person” to be involved in such dumping and that he had instead been asking everyone to cooperate and dispose of garbage responsibly.

Residents flag issues

Residents said that from 7 a.m. until late in the evening, sometimes until 7 p.m., at least two garbage trucks arrive every hour. The waste includes sanitary waste and wood cuttings, along with dry and wet garbage, they alleged. 

Residents stated that the stench reaches their homes, making it difficult to live there. “We have shown them that children and senior citizens live here. People are cooking beside the waste, living and sleeping there. But when we try to stop the trucks, the people who come to dump the garbage threaten that they will take away our jobs,” a resident said. 

“The dumping has also upset families who visit the burial ground to pay their respects to deceased relatives on anniversaries and other occasions,“ residents lamented, pointing out that garbage is being dumped on and around graves, leaving families to see piles of waste as the first thing when they visit. 

A resident of the crematorium said the dumping had left them helpless. “Some families have accused us at the electric crematorium of taking money to allow people to dump garbage here. It is our duty to maintain cleanliness, but we do not know why this is being done to us. Garbage is being dumped even around our homes,” he said. 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s cutout measuring a height of whopping 75 feet was erected at Sri Venkateswara University’s Tarakarama stadium in Tirupati on Tuesday (October 6, 2026), as part of the ongoing ‘Seva Sankalp Abhiyan’.

The cutout was erected by the BJP’s State SC Morcha and was formally inaugurated by Kadapa-based Mathangi Devasthanam’s Peethadhipathi, SC Morcha state President Panathala Suresh, in the presence of State Vice-President Kola Anand and Tirupati district President Samanchi Srinivas.

The celebrations not only mark Narendra Modi’s 75^th birthday, but also his completion of 25 years in office offering good governance, i.e., the combined terms including as Gujarat Chief Minister and the Prime Minister of India.

A large contingent of temple priests performed rituals to sanctify the cutout and offered ‘Vedic blessings’ to Mr. Modi.

Non-stop drum beating

Interestingly, the event also marks the launch of the beating of folk drums non-stop for 75 hours, that is, from October 7 to 10. As the event involves the participation of 2,000 drum beating artistes, the organisers have planned to get it recorded for an entry in the Guinness Book of Records.

BJP State President PVN Madhav will formally inaugurate the event on Wednesday (October 7, 2026).