Police arrest social activist Medha Patkar along with supporters during their protest against acquisition of farmers’ land for the NTPC Karchhana project, in Allahabad on Saturday. (Source: PTI photo) Police arrest social activist Medha Patkar along with supporters during their protest against acquisition of farmers’ land for the NTPC Karchhana project, in Allahabad on Saturday. (Source: PTI photo)

Social activist Medha Patkar and some of her associates were stopped at the Police Lines here on Saturday while they were going to Kachri village in Allahabad’s Karchhana area, where farmers had held protests and clashed with the police against acquisition of their land by the UP government for a power plant.

Patkar was stopped from proceeding in the wake of the model code of conduct being in place in view of the upcoming Panchayat elections next month.

The activist was later assured by the District Magistrate that necessary action would be taken to release those who have been wrongly named in the case of assault on police during violent protests against land acquisition by the government in Kachri, which is the site of the proposed Karchhana thermal power plant, earlier this month.

“She was stopped as the model code of conduct has been implemented. She insisted on meeting the DM regarding the issue, who met her in the afternoon. While she assured that the farmers would not block the rail tracks, the DM too asked for some time to go through the records and take necessary action, if some innocents have been named in the FIR,” said Superintendent of Police (Trans-Yamuna), Ashutosh Mishra, who managed the operation. “As long as normal life is not disrupted, everybody is free to air their grievances,” he added.

Farmer leader Raj Bahadur Patel and 42 others had been named in the FIR pertaining to blockade of road, arson, assault on police and blocking the rail track when the district administration tried to vacate land for the mega power plant. Since then, police force have been continually deployed in the area.

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