Motorists on the busy Perambur Main Road were stuck in traffic for nearly two hours on Friday noon after a 100-strong crowd demonstrated on the stretch.
The protesters — field-level workers of Metrowater — took to the streets demanding action against the councillor of ward 45 for assaulting three of their colleagues the previous day.
Workers from nearly a dozen Metrowater depots, including Washermenpet, Vyasarpadi, Perambur and MKB Nagar, took part in the protest.
According to Metrowater, J.K. Iruduyarani, AIADMK woman councillor of ward 45, assaulted S. Loganathan (54), K. Venketasan (45) and V. Sriramulu (55) while they were cleaning a manhole on BB Road in Perambur on Thursday.
“We were cleaning the manhole following a complaint from a resident. The councillor asked us to stop working saying Metrowater had not sought her permission for digging up the road. When we refused to stop, the councillor and her aides beat us up,” said S. Loganathan, one of the workers who were assaulted.
On Friday morning, the councillor, along with some supporters, went to the Metrowater office on Perambur Main Road and attacked the workers again, the police said. The workers then decided to take out a protest.
On Friday, traffic came to a grinding halt on the stretch until the Sembium police and senior Metrowater officials held talks with the protesters and asked them to disperse. A case was registered against the councillor at the Sembium police station.
When contacted, the ward councillor did not deny the attacks on the workers. “How can Metrowater staff work on a national holiday (Independence Day) and that too, without prior permission from the local body, and cut the road? When I tried to take a picture of their work on my mobile phone, the workers objected,” said councillor Irudhuyarani.
