Tamil Nadu Lorry Owners’ Federation stage protest, demands due compensation for damages in Cauvery violence

The Tamil Nadu Lorry Owners’ Federation staged a protest here, condemning the attacks on lorries and drivers, and called for due compensation for the losses caused during the violence in Karnataka over the Cauvery issue, according to the Hindu.

The protests by the Sand Lorry Owners’ Federation and the All-India Drivers’ Peravai took place outside the old Municipality office on Wednesday.

The federations alleged that over 200 vehicles, including buses and lorries, were attacked and vandalised. In some parts, vandalism continued even after curfew was imposed.

Speaking to The Hindu, Mettur V. Murugan, State general secretary of the T.N. Lorry Owners’ Federation, said over 35 vehicles were set ablaze and lorry drivers humiliated. The police had remained mute spectators, he alleged.

Essential commodities and other goods worth more than Rs. 1,000 crore, meant for Karnataka, are held up at the lorry godowns in Tamil Nadu. The lorry booking agents had stopped booking goods for Karnataka and would resume only after total normality returned, Rajavadivel, president of the Tamil Nadu Lorry Booking Agents’ Federation, said.