Barring an incident of the pelting of stones on buses belonging to the State Express Transport Corporation (SETC) and Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation (TNSTC) at Pallipalayam in Namakkal district, the dawn-to-dusk bandh called by the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and other opposition parties to highlight the demand for the constitution of the Cauvery Management Board (CMB) passed off peacefully in Salem and Namakkal districts on Thursday.
The SETC bus proceeding to Ernakulam from Salem and the TNSTC bus heading towards Coimbatore from Salem suffered minor damages in the stone pelting incident. No one was injured, police sources said. The Pallipalayam police are on the lookout for the miscreants.
The cadres of DMK and other opposition parties participated in rail roko agitation in Salem Railway Junction, Magudanchavadi and Ayodhiyapattinam railway stations and courted arrest. According to city police, more than 1,000 cadres were rounded up in the city limits for picketing the trains and buses.
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The Salem rural district police rounded up 1,748 opposition party cadres for organising agitations in different parts.
The opposition partymen organised rail roko agitations in three railway stations of Pallipalayam, Rasipapalayam and Mohanur in Namakkal district. The Namakkal police arrested 1,498 persons, police sources said.
Sand lorries affiliated to the Tamil Nadu Sand Lorry Owners Federation were off the road to express their solidarity, and advocates affiliated to the Federation of Bar Associations of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry boycotted the courts in both the districts.
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