Dam protesters lathicharged at Gudalur

December 13, 2011 02:35 pm | Updated October 18, 2016 01:13 pm IST - Theni

Police on Tuesday lathicharged hundreds of people at the State border town of Gudalur when they forcibly tried to enter Kerala, demanding adequate protection to the 116-year-old Mullaperiyar Dam, over which both Tamil Nadu and Kerala are locked in a row.

Police said the crowd pelted stones at them and tried to force their way past a security cordon and go across to Kerala, prompting them to use batons.

In a similar action yesterday, police had lathicharged more than 4,000 protesters from 25 villages, who tried to forcibly enter Kerala, demanding increase in the dam level from 136 feet to 142 feet as per orders of the Supreme Court.

Police also expressed concern about reported movement of some suspected extremists on the Kerala side in Kumili and other areas and said they had alerted their counterparts in that State.

Meanwhile, local shop owners and people said they would not provide food and water to police for “working against their interests.”

The Mullaperiyar Dam row has sparked tension between Tamil Nadu and Kerala over building a new dam in place of the existing one. Kerala insists a new dam is the only solution, but Tamil Nadu maintains it is as good and safe as a new one.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.