Pondy: Protest against power cuts turns violent

Puducherry, Jul 15: Twenty people, including five police personnel, were injured and about ten vehicles damaged here today when a road block agitation in protest against frequent power cuts turned violent.

According to police, frequent power cuts were being experienced in Kottakuppam village coming under Villuppuram distict of Tamil Nadu.

The protesting villagers put up the road blockade on East Coast road seeking to put an end to their ordeal.

Senior police and revenue officials held talks with them and assured them to take action. However, the protestors refused to heed to their appeal, forcing the police to resort to a lathicharge.

The mob which was dispersed then, however, gathered and blocked the road again, forcing police to lathicharge them for a second time.

The villagers in retaliation pelted stones and damaged the windscreens of buses, including college buses, cars and vans passing by.

The police, however, restored order and posted heavy pickets in the area.

All the injured were treated as out-patients. Traffic on the East Coast Road was affected for over two hours following the stir.

UNI