Tamil Nadu: Kathipara in chains, traffic disrupted

Chennai: The morning rush hour traffic on the Kathipara grade separator and connected roads like Anna Salai, GST Road and Jawaharlal Nehru Salai came to a grinding halt on Thursday morning when the self-proclaimed Tamil nationalist and film director Gowthaman and his handful of supporters blocked the flyover using a long chain in support of farmers from the state protesting for the 31st day in Delhi.

The protesters blocked all traffic by locking both sides of the key intersection with chains and it took more than 45 minutes for the police to remove the protesters and dismantle the chains they had put across the flyover to allow traffic to flow normally. By the time the impediments were removed, vehicles had piled up for nearly 3 km on all the main roads leading to Kathipara, police said. “Gowthaman and his 5 supporters, including a college student, were arrested and remanded. We cannot allow this kind of protest of locking the road using a chain and stopping the traffic,” a senior police official said. Police slapped a case under 7 IPC sections including for unlawful assembly, disobedience to public servant, use of force to deter public servant from discharging his duty and criminal intimidation.     

The Kathipara grade separator connects the south and west of the city, including the road to the airport and the highway to Bengaluru and Tirupati. The demands of the protesters included constituting the Cauvery Management Board (CMB).   

Gowthaman's 20-odd supporters reached the top of the flyover walking on at different times while Gowthaman himself got to the scene in a car with the chains. His supporters suddenly stopped the traffic saying they were going to clean the road and locked both sides of the chain after tying it to the ledge.

Sources said that it took nearly 20 minutes for the police understand the seriousness of the incident and to reach the top of the flyover and start negotiations with Gowthaman, who had gathered there with his 20 supporters. It took another 20 minutes for the cops the remove them from the spot after breaking the chain.

The Kathipara flyover has eight traffic surveillance cameras installed, but none of those cameras is in working condition. Below the flyover is the office of the AC Traffic and also a police outpost, despite which it took nearly 45 minutes for the police to remove the protesters.

Meanwhile, members of Thanthai Periar Dravida Kazhagam staged a 'half-naked' protest on the farmers' issue outside Shastri Bhavan in Nungambakkam which houses many central government departments. The activists, among others, pressed for farm loan waiver.