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Constable killed, cop injured as rain lashes Chennai
The large tree, which is near chief minister MK Stalin’s cell, was uprooted due to rainfall around 9 am. The deceased constable has been identified as Kavitha, while the injured policeman, Murugan, was rushed to a government hospital, a police official said.
A woman constable posted at the state secretariat in Chennai died while another policeman got injured after a tree fell on them Tuesday morning, the police said.
The large tree, which is near chief minister MK Stalin’s cell, was uprooted due to rainfall around 9 am. The deceased constable has been identified as Kavitha, while the injured policeman, Murugan, was rushed to a government hospital, a police official said.
Following the incident, Tamil Nadu director general of police (DGP) C Sylendra Babu visited the spot and supervised the tree removal conducted by the fire and rescue personnel.
Chief minister Stalin granted ₹10 lakh as solatium to Kavitha’s family and paid respects to her body. He also visited the injured policeman at the hospital.
The incident comes a day after 32-year-old software engineer Mohammad Yunus got killed after hitting a pothole on Chennai’s busy arterial road Anna Salai. The Tamil Nadu highways department, which maintains the road, has begun work on Tuesday to cover several potholes along the road, the police said. Barricades were also put up over the newly-covered potholes on the road. CCTV footage of the accident shows the techie, who was riding a two-wheeler on Anna Salai skid, losing his balance and falling under the rear wheel of a government bus (Metropolitan Transport Corporation-MTC) amid heavy rainfall on Monday. Soon after the accident, the Guindy traffic police rushed to the spot and found the victim dead.
The highways department has said that the pothole was caused by a private company, which provides internet and dug up the road to lay the cables. “We haven’t made any arrests yet as we are discussing who is accountabe and who should be named as the accused,” said inspector Kamala Devi of the Guindy traffic police. “Three sections are involved – the highways, the private company and the bus driver.”
Tamil Nadu government declared a holiday for schools in nine districts including Chennai, Chengalpattu, Mayiladuthurai, Kancheepuram, Cuddalore, Villupuram and Ariyalur after northeast monsoon picked up pace in the state. Schools for Class 1 to 8 reopened on November 1 as educational institutes were shut due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
A holiday was also announced for colleges in Chennai, and the city was inundated in several parts.
The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) in its bulletin on Tuesday noted that there has been significant rainfall over the past five days and warned of heavy to very heavy rainfall in districts of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry. According to the observations of the Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC) as of 5.3-pm on Tuesday, Cuddalore received the highest rainfall of 116.3 mm, Coimbatore received 35.8 mm rainfall and Chennai witnessed 41.2 mm rainfall. “The next 48-hours, there will be thunderstorms with moderate rains, heavy at times in some areas,” said a statement from the RMC.
