Cops close key stretch in Vellore to block 2 service roads citing lack of barricades

Kagithapattarai houses many of the lower level staff of CMC Hospital and daily wage earners. As locals on the way to work started gathering at the barricade, Vellore west district AIADMK treasurer M Moorthy questioned the police over the location of the barricade placed near a fuel outlet on a main road. He also called it unnecessary trouble to the residents.

Traffic policemen on the spot informed Moorthy that the block was there to prevent people from reaching the Arcot Road through two minor service roads abutting the Chennai-Bengaluru National Highway. When pointed out that the spot near TANSI engineering unit near the Collector’s office would be the right spot to block movement from service roads, the police admitted that they lack metal barricades to place across the two minor service roads.

To it, the locals asked the police to place casuarina poles to barricade the necessary stretches to save them from the trouble of taking a detour to CMC Hospital. P Natarajan, a resident, said, “When we ask the police to allow us to go to CMC, they tell us to use the service road which adds 4 km to reach the hospital. What happens in an emergency when time is vital?” SR Boominathan another resident said, “the TANSI office was the spot where the road was barricaded during the lockdown’s first extension. Lack of metal barricades cannot be an answer to close a wrong location.” Policemen’s explanation that it was the order of SP Pravesh Kumar failed to cut ice among the residents as they complained of unilateral action by policemen without consulting elected representatives or residents’ welfare associations.