The Hindu : Front Page : Karnataka buses stopped; hotel in Chennai ransacked

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Karnataka buses stopped; hotel in Chennai ransacked

Tamil Nadu Bureau

— Photo: K. Pichumani

UNDER ATTACK: A scene at the restaurant on Armenian Street in Chennai after it was ransacked by a group of persons on Wednesday.

CHENNAI: Following escalating protests in Tamil Nadu over Karnataka’s opposition to the Hogenakkal drinking water supply project, bus services were suspended on the Udhagamandalam-Mysore route on Wednesday.

KSRTC buses were blocked in Sathyamangalam, Erode, and a restaurant was ransacked in Chennai. Panic gripped the busy commercial hub near the Madras High Court in the city after a group of persons, condemning outfits in Karnataka opposed to the water supply project, ransacked a restaurant on Armenian Street.

Four persons were injured in the incident that took people in the area by surprise and led to closure of some shops for a few hours. Hours before, an outlet of the restaurant inside the High Court premises was attacked.

According to the police, the group, shouting slogans against the outfits, damaged tables and chairs at Sangeetha Restaurant on Armenian Street. On being alerted, a police patrol vehicle rushed to the spot.

Two injured employees of the restaurant, identified as Anand and Gopinath, were admitted to a nearby hospital. The other two injured persons were customers to the restaurant, the police said.

Based on a complaint from the hotel, the Esplanade police registered a case under IPC Sections 147 (rioting), 341 (punishment for wrongful confinement) and 427 (punishment for mischief). A special police team is on the lookout for the accused.

Commissioner of Police G. Nanchil Kumaran told The Hindu that all the accused identified by the complainant would be secured soon. Keeping in mind the tense situation prevailing in the area, the police strength in all sensitive localities had been stepped up in the city, he said.

In Erode, a group of cadres from the MDMK, PMK, VCK and Tamizhar Pathugappu Kazhagam blocked KSRTC buses in Sathyamangalam, and demanded action against former Karnataka Chief Minister B. S. Yeddyurappa, for the attacks on the offices of Tamil organisations.

Bus services on the Udhagamandalam-Mysore route would be resumed on obtaining a go-ahead from the Karnataka authorities, a spokesman said.

Nilgiris Collector Anandrao V. Patil told The Hindu that adequate precautionary measures had been taken and police patrolling intensified at sensitive spots.

To black out channels

The Cable TV Association has decided to black out Kannada channels in Tamil Nadu in response to the suspension of telecasting Tamil channels in Karnataka, according to its representative Kayal Ilavarasu.

Tension prevailed at the Athipalli junction near the State’s border with Karnataka after activists of the Kannada Jakridhi Vedike took out a procession and burnt the effigy of Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi. The activists also raised slogans against the PMK founder Dr. S. Ramadoss for his remarks on Kannadigas.

The agitators asked the PMK to refrain from staking a claim for the Kolar Gold Fields, Chamrajpet and Bangalore, threatening to stake a counter claim for Dharmapuri and Krishnagiri districts. They urged the Tamil Nadu government to abandon the project, failing which they warned of paralysing inter-State traffic.

The police have posted additional forces at the inter-state border to pre-empt untoward incidents.

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