Tense moments prevailed in Topslip and Pollachi on Monday following alleged attack on labourers from Tamil Nadu at the Parambikulam Aliyar Dam by the Kerala Police. It is said that a PWD officer from Tamil Nadu was also injured in the attack.
The attack allegedly took place when the workers blocked a few Kerala government vehicles and tourist vehicles.
On Saturday. a team of 12 Public Works Department (PWD) officials from Tamil Nadu were allegedly denied entry into the dam by Kerala forest personnel.
The forest personnel reportedly made the officials wait for more than three hours, before the officials returned to Tamil Nadu in the late hours of the day.
Sources said a few families from Tamil Nadu who work at the dam site stay in a village there and a PWD vehicle used to take their children to a government school at Vettaikaranpudur near Anamalai and back home every day.
After the Saturday incident, the PWD did not send the vehicle to pick up the children.
It is learnt that the Tamil Nadu workers were agitated over this. Around 50 persons, including children, are said to have taken part in the protest, blocking a few Kerala government and tourist vehicles.
The police had reportedly warned the protesters to clear the road. When the protesters refused, the police are said to have resorted to lathi charge to clear them form the road.
Following the incident, tense moments prevailed at the Tamil Nadu-Kerala border at Anaipadi Check Post (20 km from Topslip).
DMK cadre staged a protest in Pollachi and blocked buses belonging the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation.
PWD officials and the police said that they would get a clear picture of the incident only after inquiring with the persons involved in the incident and the officers concerned in Kerala.
