NOIDA: Police have booked some 650 people — 40 named and the remaining unnamed — for protesting against the Noida Authority outside its administrative office in Sector 6 for nearly 100 days. This is the ninth FIR lodged against the protesters to date, officials said.
In fact, farmers from several villages of Noida, under the banner of the Bharatiya Kisan Parishad, have been staging protests against the Authority since September 1. The bone of contention remains the map policy and the 10% plots allotted to some of them, which the farmers are demanding for all those affected by land acquisition. They want the map policy to be scrapped and commercial activities be allowed on all roads.
The latest FIR was registered against the protesters on Tuesday night on a complaint from Ramchandra Singh, assistant manager (work circle-1). IPC sections 147 (rioting), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 353 (assault to deter public servant from discharge of his duty) 342 (wrongful confinement), 188 (disobedience to order by public servant) have been invoked in the FIR.
“Over the past 97-98 days, these protesters have locked the gates of the Authority and surrounded its office keeping women at the forefront. They are even resorting to sloganeering in an unconstitutional manner. The agitation has resulted in a lot of problems to the common public and people of the private companies nearby are facing an issue in movement,” read the complaint.
SHO of Sector 20 police station Munish Chauhan said that this is the ninth FIR lodged against the farmers for obstructing traffic. “The complaint from the Authority states that the protesters have locked the office gates, resulting in the work getting affected. We are investigating the matter. We will make any arrest only after further investigation,” he said.
The farmers have, however, vowed to continue with their protest. Farmer leader Sukhbir Khalifa, named in the latest FIR too, had earlier told TOI that the Noida Authority officials had spoken to them and assured of action. “But nothing has happened to date. Let’s see what they do, our protest will continue.”
