Chennai comes to a crawl, AMMK workers held for obstructing traffic

OUT OF GEAR

Chennai comes to a crawl, AMMK workers held for obstructing traffic

Selvaraj.A@timesgroup.com

09.02.2021 

Even several hours before expelled AIADMK leader VK Sasikala was to drive into the city, vehicles had to move at snail’s pace on many arterial roads of Chennai, and at least 30 Amma Makkal Katchi Kazhagam (AMMK) cadres were arrested for obstructing traffic. The cadres staged the flash protest at Nazarethpet, after police prevented them from erecting hoardings and pasting posters welcoming Sasikala.

Policemen were asked to stay as a group near AIADMK party headquarters near Royapettah, and MGR’s house at Ramapuram, besides other ‘strategic’ locations. Top officials, however, denied having issued any blanket orders to their ranks.

“We have not blocked any roads for vehicular movement in the city. We have instructed the field officers to take decision as per the need and requirements,” said additional traffic commissioner N Kannan.

Ever since Sasikala’s convoy started in Bengaluru on Monday morning, city police deployed its men at designated locations to monitor and streamline the gathering AMMK cadres. T Nagar, where Sasikala is slated to stay after arriving in the city, saw big crowd of AMMK and AIADMK cadres waiting in groups since morning. It was swelling by evening, impeding free flow of traffic.

The Chennai-Bengaluru national highway saw maximum trouble for pedestrians and vehicle-users. Scores of AMMK men, including two former MLAs Raja and Ezhumalai, arrested by police at Nazarethpet were housed at a marriage hall there.

The vicinity of former chief minister MGR’s residence at Ramapuram also saw a lot of action after news that Sasikala may spend an hour meditating there. Party cadres had parked their cars on the road side stretching for about a kilometre, leaving little space for vehicles on the four-lane road between Porur and Guindy. Police efforts to remove the parked vehicles met with resistance, as AMMK workers refused to leave the place.

A software engineer, Boobala, working with firm in Ramapuram, said, “on normal days it takes about 10 minutes for me to reach my office, but today it took 45 minutes for me.”

Elsewhere on Lloyds Road, where AIADMK party headquarters is located, police blocked all accesses with barricades on either side of the road. They, however, have to be removed later as local residents questioned it.