Normal life back in Thoothukudi

After the police firing incident on Tuesday and Wednesday resulting in the death of 13 persons, there was tension in Thoothukudi. Because of the police action all the shops remained closed and transport services were affected badly.

Residents of Thoothukudi suffered a lot because of the crippled services and the town was out of order for the first three days, till Thursday. However, on Friday evening the situation eased a bit as 25 per cent of shops opened following the end of the bandh of opposition parties.

On Saturday, the condition improved much and normalcy returned despite prohibitory orders in place.

More than 80 per cent of the shops were opened on Saturday and people were able to buy essential items. 

Also there was no shortage in supply of vegetables.

According to Thoothukudi Collector Sandeep Nanduri, nearly 168 metric tonnes of vegetables were sold in the farm fresh outlets in Thoothukudi and the total sale was Rs 50 lakh. Also 75 per cent of the buses were operated on Saturday.

Nearly 105 town buses and 150 mofussil buses were operated.

Collector held talks with the owners of mini-buses and assured that security would be provided to the buses to operate. The Collector also said that autos are running normally and soon 100 per cent bus services would be operational.

In the meantime, two petrol bombs were hurled at Kulathur police station in Thoothukudi district. The incident happened in the wee hours of Saturday when miscreants threw petrol bombs and absconded from the spot. One of the petrol bombs hit the name board of the police station and exploded.

However, there was no major damage to the station building.