Coimbatore : About 400 workers of different political parties, belonging to Secular Progressive Alliance, including members of Lok Sabha and Assembly, were arrested Friday for staging a demonstration without permission, seeking immediate construction of a Railway overbridge in the city, pending for the last one decade.

The demonstration was led by DMK MLA, N Karthik and CPIM MP-elect P R Natarajan, who said that the overbridge was sanctioned by the then DMK government in 2010 with an outlay of Rs.23 crore.

However, the AIADMK government, which took charge in 2011, failed to follow up the project and kept it in the back burner, as there was discussion with regard to paying compensation to the land owners, Karthik said.

Though the construction started in 2013, it was abnormally delayed putting the people of Singanallur SIHS Colony and nearby seven housing localities, he alleged.

The alliance partners had decided to agitate seeking immediate completion of the project and accordingly, attempted to stage the demonstration, led by CPIM MP, P R Natarajan, Karthik and local leaders of Congress, MDMK, CPIM, CPI among others.

Since police denied permission for the protest demonstration, the workers raised slogans in support of the demand. However, all of them including the leaders were arrested for defying the order, police said.