MADURAI:: A spontaneous protest march over the Mullaiperiyar dam row by an estimated 50,000 villagers in the Theni district went off largely peacefully on Sunday, barring stray incidents of violence, principally due to effective law and order monitoring by several top police officers.In one incident, miscreants hurled missiles at State Finance Minister O Panneerselvam’s car when he arrived to meet them. However, Inspector General of Police (South Zone) Rajesh Das and Theni Collector K S Palanisamy took charge and brought the situation under control. Police safely escorted Panneerselvam away.Villagers, including a large number of women, from Uthamapalayam, Chinnamanur, Theni, Cumbum, Gudular and Lower Camp, hit the road on foot, tractors, vans, lorries and motorcycles since 8 am and headed to the Kumili check post on the border to register their protest over Kerala’s insistence on decommissioning the Mullaiperiyar dam.Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) S George directly supervised security arrangements in Theni, ensuring that police personnel tackled skirmishes with patience. “At present, we have a 2,500-strong police force on guard in Theni. We have decided to deploy 1,000 more personnel on Monday,” George said.Traffic from Bodimettu to Kerala was stopped for the second consecutive day. In Virudhunagar, a lorry bearing a Kerala registration was set on fire by miscreants.As the crowd reached dangerously close to the Kerala border, police took up position to ensure that no one breached the border line. Collector Palanisamy and IGP Rajesh Das held talks with the villagers for nearly five hours, standing on a parked government vehicle.Police convinced them that they were only keen on protecting the safety of the local people.
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