Corporation employees staged a massive demonstration here on Thursday demanding action against three police inspectors for allegedly harassing the staff at the toll gates on the Inner Ring Road.
Condemning the police for arresting the corporation staff on baseless charges, they wanted severe action to be taken against the Inspectors of Avaniapuram, Othakadai and Karupayoorani police stations. A large number of employees participated in the demonstration held under the aegis of the Madurai Corporation All Staff Associations Federation.
The police had arrested two permanent employees M.Velmurugan and Sundaram alias Mahaligam and also seven other contract workers who were collecting toll fee at the ring road toll gates.
B. Suresh Kumar, federation president, K. Muniasami, secretary and P. Mohammed Raffi, vice-president, took up the issue with the senior officials of the corporation. They also sought the intervention of Mayor V. V. Rajan Chellappa and Corporation Commissioner R. Nanthagopal.
Mr. Raffi told media persons that the unilateral action of the police was condemnable as they had arrested the toll gate employees without informing the corporation.
“Our staff members were detained by the police in the name of enquiry, but later they were arrested on a false complaint.
They should be released immediately and action must be initiated against those policemen who violated the Government rules while arresting them,” the federation demanded.
The complaint made by the protesting employees was that the police had disrupted work at the toll gates and thereby causing loss in toll fee collection. In the last two days, about Rs. five lakh could not be collected.
Protestors demanded that the employees should be able to work without any fear or threat from the police.
In the evening, the federation office-bearers had submitted a representation to the Corporation Commissioner and sought his help in releasing the arrested employees and restoring normalcy at the toll gates on the Inner Ring Road.
