Councillors’ kin attack civic staff

[1]

Women councillors of the Chennai corporation are now flexing their muscles, literally, through their family members. At least two incidents of family members of AIADMK councillors beating up corporation employees were reported in the last one week.

“City civic body employees – be it sanitary workers or senior executives – are at the receiving end. A corporation zonal junior engineer was allegedly beaten up by a councillor’s son at the office located on Sringeri Mutt Road last Friday night. In Nolambur, a sanitary worker was assaulted by husband of woman councillor,” confirmed a senior official at Ripon Buildings.

According to junior engineer Ravichandran, who had lodged a complaint with the Chennai city police commissioner about being assaulted by one Senthil, son of Vijayalakshmi, councillor of ward number 126 in Mandaveli, he was shocked.

“I was sitting and doing my work related to ward committee meet when Senthil assaulted me. He grabbed papers from my hand, pushed the table on me and grabbed me by my neck. He was angry because I was talking to a contractor,” Ravichandran told this newspaper.

In the second incident at Nolambur, Immanuel, AIADMK councillor (ward number 143 ) Nalini’s husband, and few others allegedly assaulted a sanitary worker Udayakumar on Wednesday afternoon. “Immanuel wanted the sanitary workers to do the work as per his instruction.

But the worker said that he would prefer to listen to corporation officials and not to the family members of a councillor. This led to an argument following which Immanuel and his associates assaulted Udayakumar. Following this incident, sanitary workers protested in front of Valsaravakkam zonal office on Thursday morning. We later arrested Immanuel and six others,” police said.

“The councillors and their relatives assaulting the corporation staff is nothing new but the existing trend is disturbing. If the police and the corporation fail to address the issue, sanitary workers would jump in to flash strikes”, warned Mr Purushothaman, general secretary, Chennai Managaratchi Pothu Uzhiyargal Munntera Sangam.

When contacted corporation commissioner D. Karthikeyan said that corporation field officers have taken up the issue with the local police.