Ahmedabad: Congress led Samvedna Yatra stopped by police

Police on Tuesday evening stopped the 'Khedut Samvedna Yatra' of Congress at Sanand and prevented it from reaching state capital Gandhinagar. Protestors said that the state government is afraid that an inquiry into procurement scam, land measurement scam and other scam could expose the state government of its wrong doings and therefore it is shying away from an inquiry.

Organised by the Kisan Cell of Congress, close to 51 tractors participated in the rally and the farmers had taken a night halt at Sanand on Monday. On Tuesday morning, they were detained by the police. "The police force was about four times our strength. We chanted 'Ramdhun' on the road. But they detained us saying that we did not have the permission to take out the rally," said Pal Amabaliya, president of Kisan Cell in Gujarat.

Pravin Kumar, superintendent of police, Ahmedabad, said that protestors had not taken permission for the rally, so we had detainted them. However, Ambaliya countered that they had sought permission through e-mail from police authorities of all the districts through which the rally was passsing, but they received no response. "This is the state of Digital India. None of the police authorities even acknowledged that they had received permission, leave alone granting or rejecting the application," Ambaliya told DNA. "Along the route we were given police escort. What happened suddenly that the same police detained us?" he asked.

Kisan Cell has demanded an inquiry into the procurement scams in groundnut and tuar. "BJP government has sought proof of the scams. We wanted submit the proofs. It seems the government is afraid of the proofs," he said.

The Rally

Organised by the Kisan Cell of Congress, the Yatra had begun from Gandhidham in Kutch on Sunday. Farmers on close to 51 tractors participated in the rally.