The Quepem Municipal Council (QMC) finally lifted the garbage from Quepem town late Wednesday evening and dumped it at an undisclosed location. It is not known whether QMC's decision to remove the garbage was prompted by threats from opposition councillors to dump garbage outside the council building on Thursday or simply to give the town a clean look in view of the Shigmo festival in Quepem town on Thursday. When contacted, QMC Chairperson Tereza Travasso declined to reveal the site where the garbage was dumped on Wednesday evening, on grounds that the opposition councillors would mobilise locals to oppose the site. In the absence of a proper garbage disposal site, the QMC had not cleared the garbage in the town for about two months, leading to unbearable stench at many places in the municipality. Unhappy with the QMC's failure to clear the garbage, opposition councillors along with hundreds of villagers had stage a protest rally outside the QMC building on March 27. They threatened to dump garbage outside the QMC building, if the council failed to clear the garbage within a week. Speaking to reporters, Opposition Councillors, Rahul Pereira, Nana Gaonkar, Caty Fernandes and Antoneta Simoes, claimed that QMC Chairperson Tereza Travasso had deliberately raked up the garbage issue in the town, in a bid to cling on to her chair.