The senior official had decided to go on surprise anti-encroachment drive on Saturday

A white SUV of a senior government official in Uttar Pradesh is seen running over vegetables of a farmer in a video that has been condemned widely on social media.

The incident happened at a state government-run market in Hapur district, 73 km from Delhi, where a farmer had allegedly spread out a sheet to sell vegetables without permission.

In the mobile phone video, the official vehicle of Sushil Kumar, the secretary of the market, is seen reversing and coming forward several times to crush the vegetables of the farmer. Some people are seen removing plastic baskets as some other government official stand looking at them. Mr Kumar's driver was behind the wheels while the officer was nearby, in the market, according to locals.

This footage is from a @UPGovt sabzi mandi in #Hapur. A top official of the mandi went on a anti encroachment drive today. His driver seen in the footage using official vehicle to crush vegetables that a poor farmer was selling inside the mandi .... pic.twitter.com/OM8mnf0DgB — Alok Pandey (@alok_pandey) November 16, 2019

The senior official had decided to go on a surprise anti-encroachment drive on Saturday. Later, the official said he reprimanded his driver on the spot.

"We have told them many times not to sit on the road and instead, sit at shops. We've also said that those who don't have shops can apply for a license and we will process it," the officers said.

"I saw the video. I reprimanded the driver, told him not to do such things and to tell me if there's any problem," he added.

Although anti-encroachment drives are common across cities and towns, the vehicle of a government official crushing vegetables was seen on social media as high-handedness.

People on Twitter condemned wasting the vegetables that the farmer had brought to the market.