SP leader urges Governor to sack UP govt

SP leader urges Governor to sack UP govt
R B SINGH

LUCKNOW, JAN 18: Senior Samajwadi Party member and Opposition leader in the Uttar Pradesh Vidhan Sabha Dhani Ram Verma on Wednesday urged Governor Vishnu Kant Shastri to sack the Rajnath Singh Government for its failure to check atrocities committed against minority communities and Dalits.

He also demanded that a special session of the Vidhan Sabha be called to discuss the deteriorating law and order situation and the plight of farmers and students.

In a memorandum submitted to the Governor, Verma said the crime rate and police excesses in the state were on the rise despite Rajnath's Singh's promise to curb them.

Verma, who returned from Balrampur after probing the incident in which some minority community members had fallen prey to alleged police excesses, also demanded the suspension of the guilty policemen. The policemen at the Gaisari police station of Balrampur had arrested 22 people under the Gangsters Act, Sections 147, 149, 332 and 307 of the CrPC for protesting against the release of one Bablu Jaiswal who had earlier been arrested for beating up a member of their community.

Verma went on to allege that the concessions announced for farmers had not reached them. The state government had promised the farmers that all the paddy would be procured by government agencies but the paddy was being purchased from traders, and not from the farmers.

He said the BJP government, which had a soft corner for traders, had so far not taken any action against such traders who were offering paddy to government agencies at Rs 510 per quintal after purchasing it for Rs 350 per quintal from farmers, thus making a net profit of Rs 160 per quintal. No action had been taken against the officials who were conniving with the traders.