Mullaiperiyar row: Villagers vandalise shops

MADURAI: A bandh like situation prevailed in Theni on Tuesday. As tempers ran high over the ongoing Mullai­periyar dam row, all comm­ercial firms down­ed shutters and traffic came to a standstill in the heart of the town. Keralites run esta­blishments in the district came under attack yet again. Protests over the last few days had been largely outside Theni town and confined to areas such as Cumbum, Lower Camp, Chinnamanur and Gudalur closer to the Kerala border. Traders in Theni displayed their solidarity with the villagers by shutting shop for a day urging the State to block all entry routes to Kerala.The agitation, intended to send across a message to Kerala that its stand on decommissioning the dam was an ill-conceived one, has now spread to Andipatti and Periyakulam.In Theni and Andipatti, the name boards of Keralites-run Muthoot Finance and Manappuram Finance were damaged. A rubber farm owned by a Keralite was set ablaze and the Theni International Hotel, also owned by a Keralite, was attack.Around 10,000 protesters were stopped from marching to Kerala border near Kuruvan Spring Bridge. A group of advocates locked up the LIC office and post office in Uthamapalayam to condemn the Centre for failing to resolve the issue. Meanwhile, around 500 Tamil plantation workers, who were stranded in Kerala, managed to reach home. In Alanganallur near Madurai, Ayyappa devotees went on a day’s fast seeking an early solution to the dam row.