The father of a five-year-old child who died with symptoms of cholera last week was arrested on Wednesday with a group of residents and Bharatiya Janata Party cadre, after he participated in a protest against the Chennai Corporation. He was released in the evening.
The protest was organised by the BJP near the Corporation zonal office of Tondiarpet. As many as 100 persons were arrested. The parents of Satish (5), who, it is suspected, died of cholera, participated.
Suresh, Satish’s father, said he wanted to shift to another residential locality as the area he lived in continued to be in poor civic condition. “We are scared as the drinking water is contaminated in our locality,” he said.
On Tuesday, the civic body had denied that the death of the 5-year-old child in Meenambal Nagar, Tondiarpet, was due to cholera.
“We visited the area and found that there is stagnant water and water contamination. The area looks like a mosquito sanctuary too. There should not be any more deaths there due to communicable diseases,” said Dr. Tamilisai Soundararajan, State vice president of Tamil Nadu BJP. Residents of north Chennai are likely to be affected more if there is an epidemic, she added.
A few days ago, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam organised a protest after reports of cholera deaths in the city.