Chennai: Irked by the dumping of garbage in their locality and apathy of officials in removing the garbage pile, three persons climbed a 150ft cellphone tower on the outskirts of the city on Wednesday.
The protesters were identified as Dhinakaran (35), a private bus driver, Prabakaran (24), a cable TV operator, and Vikram (36), a lorry driver of Thirumalai Alwarpuram near Pallavaram.
Crowd that gathered under the cellphone tower when the protesters climbed up and threatened to jump. (Photo:DC)
According to police, Dhinakaran, Prabakaran and Vikram climbed the tower on Thirumalai Alwarpuram Main Road around 6:30 am on Wednesday. On seeing this, local residents implored them to come down but in vain. Immediately, the residents alerted Shankar Nagar police, who in turn, rushed to the spot. “Even though the police tried to persuade them to come down, the trio refused to and had sought actions to stop garbage lorry owners who are dumping in the locality,” police said.
Police also informed the protesters that they had already arrested and are investigating a garbage lorry owner - Arokiya Raja (40) for dumping in the area. On promise by the police of severe actions against the persons dumping in the locality, they were brought down. But one of the protestors, Dhinakaran became unconscious due to low pressure and was sent to Chromepet Government Hospital for treatment whereas the other two were taken to Shankar Nagar police station for further investigation.
