Tamil Nadu - Salem   

DMK-led parties take out procession

By Our Special Correspondent

SALEM, SEPT. 7. Traffic in the city came to a halt for nearly two hours this morning when the members of Opposition parties, led by the DMK, broke the police cordon to take out a procession to condemn the Salem Corporation's "intriguing silence'' over the issue of the unauthorised construction of an arch in the name of the late Chief Minister, M. G. Ramachandran, at Karungalpatti recently.

Slogans against Mayor

Police erected temporary barricades at three points in the city between the Central Bus stand and Anna Park on Omalur Main Road to prevent the cadres from taking out the procession from the District DMK office here. But the crowd surged ahead and defied the police presence to continue their procession towards the office of Salem Corporation where they staged a demonstration for nearly an hour. They also raised slogans against the Mayor, R. Sureshkumar, and the Commissioner, T. Paulsamy, who they charged, were "covertly supporting" an unlawful construction on a public property. Later they submitted a petition to the Executive Engineer of the Corporation in this regard.

A senior Opposition councillor of the Corporation claimed that a group of local AIADMK men had erected the arch across Salem-Tiruchi Main Road at Karungalpatti Vilakku, which was lying within the Corporation limits. As the area was totally congested, road accidents here had become a common phenomenon.

Aggravates situation

The arch would further aggravate the situation, they feared. The protestors also claimed that the construction was a clear violation of the Corporation rules. "We wonder how the officials, who harass the common men for even small faults, can permit such a construction in the heart of the city," they asked.

The councillors belonging to the DMK, PMK and the Congress said that before erecting such a permanent structure across a busy road, the Corporation should have been consulted.

"We have a Council elected by the people. Officials are here to run the administration. Rules and regulations govern the entire local body. It should have been placed before the Council for clearance.

But the group allegedly belonging to AIADMK and on the instigation of a local AIADMK MLA took the law into their hands and had erected the arch across the road," said another DMK councillor.

The agitators urged the Corporation to remove the unlawful construction of the arch immediately. A senior official in the Corporation said that those who erected the arch did not heed the advise of the Corporation officials. However, he shifted the blame on the Corporation's Town Planning officials who for reasons known to them remained silent and did not report the matter to the officials concerned in time.

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