Chennai Police have detained eleven volunteers of an activist group for conducting a social audit of one of the city’s lakes.
Volunteers of Arappor Iyakkam have been detained for auditing the Kallu Kuttai Lake in Taramani on Saturday morning. In light of the massive water crisis that has gripped Chennai, the citizens’ group has been raising awareness about the need to preserve the city’s water bodies. Eleven of their volunteers were inspecting the particular lake in Taramani, and documenting details about its condition, when police officials arrived and detained them, reported The News Minute.
While the citizens’ group alleges that this is an attempt to arm-twist them into not raising questions about the condition of Chennai’s lakes, the police claimed that it was merely a precautionary measure taken to avoid the possibility of a clash between the volunteers and encroachers.
Interestingly, the police has also cited that the volunteers were detained because they hadn’t taken permission from them, but it isn’t clear why exactly the volunteers would need permission to go and observe the details of a lake.
The Background
Towards the end of June, Arappor Iyakkam had sought police permission for holding a protest to call attention to Chennai’s water crisis. The police had refused to grant permission, citing law and order issues and supposed hindrance to peace and tranquility of the city. Arappor Iyakkam then moved the Madras High Court seeking permission for the protest, and the Court ruled in their favour.
Now, Arappor volunteers argue that the detentions on Saturday are part of the police’s attempts to further hinder their work. They do not agree to the police’s arguments about precautionary measures and permissions.
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