Scorched earth near Ormidhia smells of foul play over waste plant

SBA POLICE in Dhekelia are investigating two cases of suspected malicious damage to private property that are believed to be linked to a dispute over the construction of a solid-waste storage plant near the village of Ormidhia.
The first involves a fire that broke out in the olive orchard of the Ormidhia mukhtar [community leader] on Wednesday night but reported to police yesterday.
Deputy police chief Andreas Pitsillides from the SBA Police in Dhekelia said that a passer-by noticed a fire in a plot belonging to the mukhtar shortly before 8pm on Wednesday night. The man notified the mukhtar’s brother and together they put out the flames before they spread.
Reports said a suspicious car had been spotted in the vicinity shortly before the fire broke out.
The flames incinerated one-and-a-half square kilometres of wild vegetation, one olive tree and a water hose.
In the second case, unknown perpetrators trespassed into an orchard belonging to the secretary of the local municipal council, and cut down nine fruit saplings.
Georgios Pouros, the secretary of the municipal council, was clearly distraught about the damage, complaining to reporters that for three years now he had been caringly tending to his saplings.
SBA police in Dhekelia said they were looking into all possibilities, but declined to give further detail with the investigation still at an early stage.
But Panayiotis Pouis, mukhtar of Ormidhia, said he was convinced that both incidents could be put down to foul play.
The burnt soil smelled of gasoline, Pouis told reporters at the scene.
“After all that has happened, we cannot rule out the possibility that both malicious acts are connected to the dispute among the residents of Ormidhia because of the construction of the solid-waste depot,” Pouis said.
“All these years, no one had bothered us,” he added, referring to himself and to his colleague on the municipal council.
“Now, since the disagreements between residents over the project [the depot] broke out, there have been some interpersonal problems here,” said Pouis.
Asked whether he suspected anyone in particular, Pouis said he did not. “We didn’t see anything, so we have no way of knowing who did it.”
The Ormidhia community is divided over the imminent construction of the solid-waste plant near their village. The depot is being built to store the household waste of the entire area before it is transferred to a plant in Koshi for treatment.
Earlier this week, a group of residents against the depot interrupted a community assembly aimed at informing them about the project. Hundreds of assembled residents jeered the speakers, forcing the head of the local council to interrupt the meeting.
The project has the backing of all affected communities, bar Aradippou.
Residents have twice stopped earth-moving equipment that was to be used to prepare the site ahead of construction.
Dissenting villagers have formed an ‘Initiative Group’, which 10 days ago heckled the Interior Minister during a discussion of the project in Larnaca.
The group has released a statement, denouncing perceived attempts to link them to yesterday’s destruction of private property and noting that the police “should be left alone to do their job.”