COIMBATORE: After the heart-breaking house collapse incident that claimed the lives of 17 persons in Mettupalayam, political parties and members of a dalit movement engaged in a protest at the government Mettupalayam hospital premises, where the bodies of the deceased were kept, on Monday.
The accident happened due to a huge compound wall falling on three houses in Mettupalayam.
A slew of demands, including immediate arrest of Sivasubramaniam whose compound wall collapsed, registering a case on him under the Scheduled Castes and Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, a government job for a person in each victim’s family and `25 lakh compensation to each victim were put forward by the members from political parties and dalit organisations.
The protestors blocked the road near Mettupalayam junction for more than 30 minutes and moved their protest inside hospital premises after the police held talks. The dissent continued till 5 pm and police lathicharged protesters and relatives. Nagai Tamilarasan, a functionary of Tamil Puligal Katchi and five other functionaries of VCK were arrested.
Speaking to mediapersons about the issue, Collector K Rajamani said, “It was found that the collapse of the compound wall is the reason for the accident. An order has been given to demolish the structure. A review will be carried to find similar types of walls to prevent further accidents.”
Meanwhile, Governor Banwarilal Purohit and heads of various political parties condoled the deaths. DMK president MK Stalin extended his condolences and urged party cadre to help the families during rescue operations.