Puducherry: Bandh called by opposition parties impacts normal life

PUDUCHERRY: The 12-hour bandh called by opposition AIADMK and the INDIA bloc to condemn the alleged failure of Puducherry government in preventing the murder of a minor girl impacted normal life here on Friday.

The opposition parties are also protesting the government's failure to prevent drug menace. They demanded a strong punishment for the culprits involved in the murder of the nine-year-old girl, whose body was found in a drain near her home in Solai Nagar on Tuesday. Leaders and cadres of the AIADMK led by its state secretary A Anbalgan courted arrest at the Odiansalai segment when they staged a road roko demanding strong action against the accused.

Anbalagan told reporters that the territorial government had failed to tackle the menace of drugs in the Union Territory (UT). He said that the Lieutenant Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan had gone on record on Thursday to say that the drug peddlers in Puducherry were having links with the drug mafia in Tamil Nadu.

He demanded that the arrested culprits (a fifty-year-old man and a teenager) should be awarded maximum punishment so that such crimes would not recur in the future. He expressed concern that none of the ministers or officials visited the bereaved family.

Leaders and cadres of the Congress, the DMK and other parties of INDIA block staged a demo at the Pattanikadi junction to demand a stringent punishment for the accused.

Senior police officers camped at various points to ensure that there was no disturbance of law and order. A police officer said that necessary police personnel were pressed into service.

All privately operated buses and autos and tempos went off the roads. The bus terminus in neighbouring Orleanpet wore a deserted look with services stopped. However, government-run buses operated as usual. Hotels and restaurants were shut at several points. Vegetable vendors and fish-sellers also did not ply their trade. Jawaharlal Nehru street and a few other shopping hubs were empty with the merchants keeping their shops closed.

While attendance in government offices was normal, the turn out of patients at hospitals was less than the usual strength as there were no transport facilities, official sources said.

Stranded passengers travelling to neighbouring Tamil Nadu were helped by officials of the government transport corporation who took them in their vehicles to the bus terminus.