Lorry carrying medical waste seized near inter-State border

Residents of K.G. Chavadi on Sunday evening seized a lorry carrying medical waste from Kerala.

The residents were waiting for the lorry near Navakkarai after they got information that the lorry was waiting to cross the inter-State border, said A. Kannan, a resident of K.G. Chavadi.

“A few of our neighbours who enter Kerala to sell milk, spotted the lorry with the waste. The odour from medical waste was the give away. They then called to alert us.”

After the lorry entered Tamil Nadu, they intercepted it near Navakkarai and found it carrying medical waste. The driver told them that it was from Trissur and that he was taking it to Karamadai.

But the residents suspected the lorry driver’s statements to be inconsistent and the Karamadai address to be fake, Mr. Kannan said and added that they then informed the K.G. Chavadi Police.

He further said that the police took their time to register a case and that too they did so after a protest by the residents.

The K.G. Chavadi police arrested lorry owner K. Annamalai (65) of Karamadai and driver D. Aruchamy (57) of Singanallur, near Pollachi, for offence under Section 270 (malignant act likely to spread infection of disease dangerous to life) of the IPC. The police took possession of the lorry and sent the accused for remand in judicial custody.

The police also registered a case against 50 persons including president of Mavuthampathi Panchayat Senthil Kumar and vice president Dhandapani on charges of unlawful assembly and traffic obstruction on Palakkad Road. They had squatted on the road demanding arrest of the lorry owner and driver, the police said.

Source: Read Full Article