PMK agitation in support of reservation for Vanniyars paralyses traffic

Traffic on GST Road in the southern suburbs of Chennai was paralysed for over two hours on Tuesday morning, after PMK cadre blocked the highway close to Perungalathur when the police prevented them from getting into the town for an indication searching for 20% reservation for Vanniyars in authorities jobs and better training.

The Kollam-Chennai Express, coming from Thiruvananthapuram, was stoned and halted for over 10 minutes between Vandalur and Tambaram in Chennai. Traffic was additionally blocked for some time on the Chennai-Bengaluru Highway close to Vellore and Sriperumbudur.

The Government Railway Police booked the cadre for rioting and inflicting injury to public property.

Later in the day, PMK youth-wing chief Anbumani Ramadoss, who addressed cadre on Anna Salai, met Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami, Deputy Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam and senior Ministers on the Secretariat. While the State authorities described it as a “courtesy meeting”, Mr. Anbumani instructed journalists that he reiterated his get together’s demand for 20% reservation.

“We organised protests in Chennai today. Our cadre were stopped by the police, but we reiterated that the cadre should remain calm. When the protests were taking place, the Chief Minister invited us, and we explained our demands to him. We said this was not a caste issue. This is not a protest against a political party, an organisation or any other community. This is a social justice and development issue,” he stated.

According to him, whereas each fourth particular person in Tamil Nadu was a Vanniyar, they’d fallen behind in phrases of training and jobs.

Socially backward group

“They are in agriculture, they are laying roads and working as masons and living in huts. They are socially backward. There are no industries in regions where there is no development or jobs. They are forced to migrate for work,” he stated.

Mr. Anbumani stated the Chief Minister promised that he would study their calls for.

He appealed towards making a notion that the Vanniyar group was violent. “This is a 40-year-old issue. We have not received justice. We are against violence,” he stated.

Earlier in the day, the Chengalpattu police detained protesters and took them to a group corridor, restoring traffic on GST Road after a pair of hours.

A Southern Railway official stated that circumstances had been registered based mostly on a criticism lodged by Anbalagan, station supervisor, Tambaram, who said that about 50 PMK members had rushed to the observe and staged a train-picketing agitation and pelted stones, damaging two headlights of the locomotive of the Kollam-Chennai Express.

On seeing the protesters, the loco pilot stopped the prepare, which suffered a detention of about seven minutes.

Later, between 10.30 a.m. and 1.30 p.m., about 300 PMK cadre squatted on the railway tracks and positioned barricades, iron railway sign bins, sand baggage and big rails, throughout the observe, obstructing trains.

Due to this, the Karaikudi-Chennai Egmore and Madurai-Chennai Egmore specific trains had been regulated at Vandalur and Chengalpattu stations respectively. Fifty unknown PMK members have been booked.

Investigators are perusing video footage to establish the suspects in each circumstances.

“Throwing stones is an offence under Section 154 of the Railways Act and is punishable with imprisonment for a term that may be extended to one year, or fine, or both,” a senior official stated.