All roads lead to Marina as people bid adieu to MK

The Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC) services, which had thinned to a minimum on Tuesday evening, became almost non-existent from the morning on Wednesday. Shops and hotels that had put up their shutters Tuesday evening immediately after the news about the death of Karunanidhi, remained closed on Wednesday as well.

The omni buses to other districts, too, were cancelled for the second consecutive day, because of which scores of people who had booked tickets in advance could not travel. Due to this, trains going to other parts of the State were completely overcrowded.

The real problem was the availability of food, as all the hotels remained closed during the day. People were seen rushing to the Railway canteens for food, as they were the only ones to remain open. Making use of the opportunity, the few roadside shops that were opened allegedly resorted to fleecing the customers.

People also faced difficulty in finding fuel stations, as the association had decided to remain closed from dawn to dusk. There were hardly any outlets that were open in the city, catching the rare few who came out on their own vehicles unawares. A good number of shop keepers had declared holiday on Wednesday so that they did not invite unnecessary trouble of possible stone pelting from irked cadres and sympathisers, mourning the death of their leader.

In the evening, after the funeral procession was over and Karunanidhi was buried, the situation eased a bit. The traffic, too, increased in the evening, though MTC buses were not operated. The TASMAC liquor retail shops, too, remained closed for the entire day.

A heavy contingent of police personnel formed a khaki blanket over the city, being deployed in large numbers at all major junctions and near government institutions. “Not many vehicles have been plying since Tuesday night. Only in the evening there was rush for people to get back home. After that, the roads were deserted,” a police officer noted.

Across the state, as the anger over denying permission to bury Karunanidhi near his mentor and DMK founder, CN Annadurai, on Marina beach reached the peak on Tuesday night, more than 70 vehicles were damaged. A majority of the vehicles that faced the ire of the party cadre were government buses – 65 Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation buses and three belonging to MTC. In stone pelting incidents, seven people were injured. Most of the stone pelting incidents were reported at Tiruvallur, Vellore, Tiruvannamalai, Villupuram, Salem, Tiruchy and Madurai districts. Police have arrested six men in connection with this.