By IANS,
Lucknow : Uttar Pradesh’s Amethi town, the parliamentary constituency of Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi, remained tense Tuesday following violent protests by people against erratic power supply, officials said. The Congress, however, held the ruling Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) responsible for the problem.
Protests against poor power supply turned violent Monday night, when a group of angry residents threw stones at the police, injuring 10 policemen. They also barged into the Kotwali police station and tried to set it on fire. Following pitched battles with the police, the security personnel responded with tear gas and baton charge to disperse the mob.
“We have registered a case against 30 people for resorting to violence during the protests that continued till late night,” Superintendent of Police R.K. Chaturvedi told reporters Tuesday.
Amethi is part of Sultanpur district, about 150 km from state capital Lucknow.
“At present, we have managed to arrest only seven-eight people. Raids are being carried out in parts of Sultanpur to arrest others who had resorted to vandalism and violence,” he added.
Residents, meanwhile, alleged that on the pretext of carrying out searches, police ill-treated women and misbehaved with them. But the district police chief refuted the charges.
“It’s totally baseless. Those women who indulged in violence must be levelling such charges against our officials,” said Chaturvedi.
Additional security personnel have been deployed in Amethi and its surrounding areas in the wake of the protests. Police said the situation was tense but under control.
According to residents, Amethi gets just about 10 hours of power supply every day.
The Congress Tuesday said the BSP was not paying attention to the woes of Amethi residents as it was Rahul Gandhi’s constituency. The party also criticised the police for using force to disperse the protesters.
“As Amethi constituency is represented by Rahul-ji, the state government is adopting a step-motherly attitude towards Amethi … as a result, it is reeling under a power crisis,” said state Congress spokesperson Akhilesh Pratap Singh.
“The situation in Amethi would not have gone out of control, if the police and the district authorities had tried to pacify the protesters by holding talks. The way police baton-charged people in Amethi cannot be justified under any circumstances,” he added.
Demanding action against police and district authorities, the Congress party has sought the governor’s intervention.
“Our foremost demand is that those arrested for carrying out protests against the poor power supply should be released immediately,” said Singh.
Meanwhile, the Amethi Vyapar Mandal observed a ‘black day’ Tuesday protesting the alleged police atrocities and shut their business establishments.