Greater Noida: Security beefed up ahead of Cong chakka jams

Image: Police patrol Bhatta Parsaul village in Gautam Buddha Nagar
Photographs: Adnan Abidi/Reuters

Security was stepped up on Thursday in Gautam Budh Nagar district hit by farmers' unrest over the land acquisition issue with the administration re-clamping prohibitory orders ahead of the protests planned by Congress against the arrest of its leader Rahul Gandhi.

"To make sure that there is no law and order problem, we have spoken to all concerned superintendents of police that they don't allow any break in law and order or any 'chakka jam'. We have given instructions," a senior police official said.

Congress activists will hold chakka jams in various parts of Uttar Pradesh to protest the arrest of Gandhi and the state government's land acquisition policy.

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Rajnath Singh to sit on 24-hour hunger strike

Image: BJP leader Rajnath Singh

Gandhi, who spent almost 19 hours at Bhatta Parasul on Wednesday, the epicentre of the farmers' agitation, was arrested under Sec 151 CrPC at around 23:00 hours on Wednesday night and was taken to the Kasna police station. He was released on bail by the Uttar Pradesh Police and brought to Delhi at 2:15 hours.

Bharatiya Janata Party leader Rajnath Singh will sit on a 24-hour hunger strike in Ghaziabad on Wednesday to protest the Mayawati government's policies. Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj, her counterpart in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley, party vice-president Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and National Democratic Alliance Convenor Sharad Yadav will lend him support and address the meeting.

Prohibitory orders, which were lifted a day before Gandhi reached Bhatta Parsaul has been reimposed.

Curfew will be clamped if situation warrants: Police

Image: A policeman stands guard at Bhatta Parsaul village
Photographs: Adnan Abidi/Reuters

Officials said curfew will be clamped if the situation so warrants. Senior police officials said security has been stepped up in view of the Congress party's decision to organise chakka jams in the state.

After four persons, including two policemen, were killed in Saturday's clashes between police and farmers in Greater Noida, the place has turned into a political battleground for parties which have flayed the Uttar Pradesh government's land acquisition policy.

'Attempts made to vitiate Bhatta Parsaul's calm atmosphere'

Image: Police carry an injured man to a hospital, after Saturday's clash between farmers and police
Photographs: Adnan Abidi/Reuters

Bhatta Parsaul has been witnessing stray incidents of violence this year over the issue of land acquisition meant for various projects of the Mayawati government. The district police have arrested 22 farmers of the village.

Flaying the Mayawati government, Digvijay Singh said, "Our fight against the Mayawati government will continue. We will be happy to go to jail on farmers' issues".

At a late night press conference in Lucknow, UP Cabinet Secretary Shashank Shekhar Singh had said the situation in Bhatta Parsaul was calm and attempts were being made to vitiate the atmosphere there.

Singh said prohibitory orders were re-imposed in the area after Congress leaders sought permission from the state authorities to hold a rally in the village.

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