Hundreds of cadre of the constituents of the People’s Welfare Front – CPI (M), CPI, MDMK and VCK and members of various farmers organisations were taken into preventive custody when they attempted to block the trains in Salem and Namakkal on Tuesday demanding the constitution of the Cauvery Management Board.
The members of various organisations and political parties also took out a procession from the Suramangalam head post office to Salem Railway Junction and squatted on the track.
Salem district secretaries P. Thangavelu (CPI-M), A. Mohan (CPI), Anandaraj, in-charge of the urban district unit of the MDMK, Ravichandran, secretary of the urban district unit of VCK, were among those arrested. A total of 473 cadre of DMK, Congress, Tamil Manila Congress and Kongunadu Makkal Desiya Katchi were taken into preventive custody when they attempted to enter the railway station in Sankagiri town to block the trains.
A total of 310 cadre of the constituents of the Peoples’ Welfare Front, including women, were taken into preventive custody from four centres – Namakkal, Tiruchengode, Pallipalayam and Rasipuram.
About 80 cadre of these parties were rounded up when they attempted to enter Namakkal Railway station to block the trains. t
In Tiruchengode town, about 70 cadre of CPI, including five women, were rounded up when they attempted to picket the buses in front of the Indian Bank branch on the West Car street.
While 59 were arrested near Rasipuram railway station, about 100 were arrested in the Kavery RS railway station near Pallipalayam, police sources said.
Erode Special Correspondent adds:
About 325 cadre from various political parties and farmer organisations were arrested in Erode.
The protesters charged the Centre with treating Tamil Nadu with a step-motherly attitude with an eye on political gains in poll-bound Karnataka. They also expressed dissatisfaction over the report submitted by the technical committee appointed by the Supreme Court for assessing drought conditions.
The protesters were blocked at the entrance of the Erode Junction and taken away in waiting vans. They were all released later in the day.
