Conservancy staff hold flash protests in Chennai; 1,100 held
CHENNAI: Police detained over 1,100 conservancy workers on Saturday after they staged flash protests at multiple locations near Parrys Corner and Broadway, keeping the personnel on high alert. The workers, who are demanding permanent employment and opposing privatisation, staged protest at five different spots one after another and blocked the roads before police removed them. They posed as regular commuters and shoppers to blend with the public and suddenly gathered and sat on the roads. Tension was high near the Kuralagam signal when a group of workers defied police orders and tried to gather again. Police blocked traffic on the stretch as workers lay on the road and raised slogans. Following a heated argument with the police, a few workers fainted and were provided medical aid. Speaking to reporters, Uzhaippor Urimai Iyakkam president K Bharathi said conservancy workers from the Royapuram and Thiru-Vi-Ka Nagar zones have been protesting for the past 149 days. Their indefinite hunger strike entered its 43rd day on Saturday. Despite submitting multiple petitions, no official or political representative has come forward for talks, Bharathi said. He noted that while the state government has regularised jobs for nurses and HR&CE employees, a move they do not oppose, he questioned the unfair treatment of conservancy workers. Bharathi warned that the protest would intensify, and workers would visit the residences of ministers KN Nehru and PK Sekarbabu, and GCC Commissioner J Kumaragurubaran to press for their demands. He added that if the Assembly session begins on January 20 without a resolution, the protest would expand to 10 more zones. Meanwhile, police arrested 1,300 members of the Secondary Grade Seniority Teachers Movement on Saturday after they lay siege to the District Education Office in Egmore, demanding equal pay for equal work. The protest turned tense as police forcibly removed agitators who blocked the entrance. The area witnessed chaotic scenes as teachers resisted arrest, prompting a heavy police deployment.
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