Seven CPI(M) workers including Tiruvottiyur municipal chairman R. Jayaraman were injured when the police lathicharged them after they staged a roadblock on Tiruvottiyur High Road to demand that roads be relaid in the municipality. The CPI(M) cadres led by north Chennai district secretary T.K. Shanmugham blocked the road near Ajax bus terminus and shouted slogans demanding that the government relay the damaged roads in the three wards of western Tiruvottiyur.
The police said the road block let to traffic sna rls on TH Road Wednesday morning. When the police tried to forcibly arrest the protesters, a quarrel broke out between them following which police lathicharged the CPI(M) men. Several CPI(M) cadres including Mr. Jayaraman were injured in the lathicharge. The municpal chairman was admitted to a private hospital. All the arrested were released in the evening.
Mr. Jayaraman told reporters that the roads in wards 41,42 and 43 had not been relaid for the past 15 years. “Even after the completion of the underground drainage system, the municipality was prevented from relaying the roads citing a pending drinking water project.” he said. The municipal chairman said the drinking water project would take at least five years to complete. “People in the three wards are severely affected by the decision,” he said. He also pointed out that no funds were allocated for Tiruvottiyur in the Rs.1,000 crore provided by the state government for relaying of damaged roads across the state.
CPI(M) state secretary G. Ramakrishnan condemned the police lathicharge of his party men. He demanded that the government take immediate steps to relay the roads.
(Photos : Gavaskar Theekathir)
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