Buses set ablaze as tension mounts in the Nilgiris

By Our Staff Reporter

UDHAGAMANDALAM, MAY 20. The ongoing agitation by tea growers in the Nilgiris today took a turn for the worse as four buses were set ablaze and 25 buses damaged extensively in stone throwing at Kotagiri and other places in the district. The Kotagiri depot of the State Transport Corporation was also damaged, and some passengers were injured in the stone throwing below Valley View on the Ooty-Coonoor ghat road.

Tension gripped many parts of the Nilgiris including Kotagiri, Yellanhalli and Manjoor as furious planters went on the rampage demanding release of those arrested in connection with violent incidents on May 15 and a large number of growers who courted arrest on Friday.

A Coimbatore report said about 2,000 tea growers including 600 women were released late tonight. Having come onto the roads over the issue of remunerative green leaf tea price, the agitators prevented movement of traffic on the ghat roads, and brought public transport to a halt between Coimbatore and Udhagamandalam. After being removed from the roads at various places, they were brought by police to Coimbatore, and lodged in two `kalyanamandapams', until they were released.

In the Nilgiris, the protestors earlier staged road `rokos' at Yellanhalli, Aravenu, Manjoor, Kotagiri, Illithorai, West Brooke and Kattabattu, demanding that the police either release those arrested forthwith or take them into custody. Most of the shopkeepers in Kotagiri downed their shutters and bus services were severely hit in various parts of the district. A few State and Central Government offices at Manjoor were damaged in stone throwing. The violent incidents and the cancellation of the Flower Show considerably reduced the tourist inflow.

Among those who held talks with the tea growers were the Inspector General of Police,Law and Order, Mr. Subbiah, the Nilgiris Collector, Mr. P. Sivasankaran, and the Deputy Inspector General of Police, Coimbatore Range, Mr. K. Rajendran. Riot police were stationed at vulnerable places and a water cannon was brought up to the hills. As the Collector was held up at Yellanhalli, an all- party meeting scheduled for this evening was postponed.

TMC panel

Our Special Correspondent from Chennai writes:

The TMC has sent a three-member party committee to the Nilgiris to assess the situation in the district. The panel comprising former Union Minister, Mr. S.R. Balasubramaniam, party general secretary, Mr. K. Kandasamy, and zonal secretary, Mr. M.A. Hakim, would meet the tea growers and present a report to the party on the cultivators' problems.

Our Special Correspondent writes from Coimbatore:

Former Union Minister, Mr. R. Prabhu, has demanded setting up of an inquiry commission headed by a Supreme Court judge to study the problems of the tea growers of the Nilgiris and give appropriate recommendations.

In a statement, he pointed out that while the import duty for tea had been announced as 35 per cent, the Sri Lankan tea had been levied only 7.5 per cent as customs duty as per the gazette notification dated May 12. The concession would hit the small farmers and small growers in India seriously.

When a ``peaceful procession'' was taken out and about 5,000 persons in the Nilgiris took part in a picketing on Friday, they were taken into custody without conceding their demand. ``This showed the anti-people attitude of the ruling party.''

Tea growers who courted arrest in various places in the Nilgiris were lodged in two `kalyanamandapams' in Coimbatore on Saturday before they were released.

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