Chennai: Protests by the members of four differently abled welfare associations choked EVK Sampath Salai for about 7 hours on Tuesday.
Around 400 members were arrested for their stir on Kamarajar Salai on Monday and held in a hall on EVK Sampath Salai until noon on Tuesday. Soon after they were released, the protesters squatted on the road for hours together, pressing their demand for benefits on par with other states for people with 40 per cent disability. Due to the flash strike, the road was completely cut off from
Purasaiwakkam High Road and from Poonamallee High Road. As the protests went on, vehicles which had to make it to EVKS Sampath road had to park their vehicles on Atkinson road where the police vehicles and city police staff enter the Commissionerate.
Cops allowed parents and drivers to walk the students through the Commissionerate to reach their vehicles, as a temporary measure. The MTC buses, which had to ply through EVK Sampath road, were redirected via Ritherdon road to reach Purasaiwakkam High road. The protesters announced that the stir would continue until their demands were met.
A section held talks with the bureaucrats, which too did not fructify in favour of the protesters. At around 7 pm, protesters, after having a discussion among themselves, decided to call off their stir temporarily.
The decision to house all the arrested in a single place close to the city police commissionerate is also under the scrutiny of the city police top brass.
