K. Dinakaran, the MLA from the Sulur Constituency was arrested along with 30 other DMDK cadres for staging a sit in protest against the District Administration inside the District Collectorate on Monday.

Tension prevailed in the Collectorate as the cadre refused to move away from the spot even though police personnel tried to pacify the agitators. They demanded that Collector Archana Patnaik should give a written statement that their demands would be met.

K. Dinakaran, alleged that the District Administration had turned a blind eye to the needs of the people of the constituency and claimed that he had previously also petitioned the District Collector regarding the issues in his constituency.

“Most of the people in our constituency are power loom workers and they are largely suffering because of the downfall in the business over the years. The wages have also reduced up to 10-15 per cent over the years,” he said. Dinakaran added that he had been requesting the State Government to set up a textile market in Somanur to help the workers better.

“I had also petitioned the Collectorate to clean the silt in all the wetlands in areas including Sulur, Kannampalayam, Pallapalayam, Irugur, and also direct water from Noyyal River to Kulathupalayam tank and Kodhavadi tank to increase the ground water level in the area,” he added.

He stated that the people of his constituency had applied for family ration card and were also in need of patta land, widow and old age pensions. “The 7.5 km stretch road between Kangeyampalayam and Sindhamanipudhur on Trichy Road should also be widened to avert accidents,” he informed.

Since, Dinakaran refused to move away from the spot, police detained the agitators along with MLA Dinakaran and later released them in the evening.