With the deployment of over 2,300 police personnel and prohibitory orders, freedom fighter Ondiveeran’s death anniversary at Nerkattumseval in Tirunelveli district passed off peacefully on Wednesday.
After Nerkattumseval Pachcheri people, led by head of the hamlet Muniyandi, performed milk ‘abhishekam’ at his memorial in the morning, Speaker of Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly P. Dhanapal offered floral tributes.
Since Collector M. Karunakaran had imposed prohibitory orders under Section 144 of Criminal Procedure Code to ban the entry of other district vehicles into Tirunelveli with the cadres and their visit to Nerkattumseval, more than 2,000 police personnel drawn from the neighbouring Tuticorin and Kanyakumari districts were deployed in rural Tirunelveli.
Check-posts were erected at 16 places across the district to stop the entry of vehicles from other districts.
Policemen deployed at the Sivagiri and Karivalamvanthanallur check-posts stopped a good number of vehicles that tried to enter the district with the cadres of Dalit outfits via Virudhunagar district. In Tirunelveli city, 350 policemen were and vehicles entering the city were screened at four check-posts.
A group of Aathi Thamizhar Peravai cadres staged a demonstration near the Palayamkottai bus stand in protest against the prohibitory orders. After a three-hour demonstration, the protesters left for Nerkattumseval to pay their respects.
