Assault on Kalsaria: Five held,sent to judicial custody

Investigating Officer Inspector P V Rathod said,“The court has sent them to judicial custody.” The reason for the February 21 attack — in which Kalsaria’s wife was also injured — is,however,not known. The police said they have been trying to find out whether the arrested acted of their own or carried out the assault on orders.

Rathod said: “On Wednesday,the police again visited the plant site near Padhiyarka village in Mahuva taluka for further investigation.”

The locals have raised environmental concerns like salinity ingress to protest against the setting up of the plant in the coastal belt of Bhavnagar district in the Saurashtra region.

Till date,Kalsaria has led many padyatra covering the affected villages to create awareness in this regard. Last year,the state government,following protest by Kalsaria,constituted an environmental committee,which gave a green signal to the Nirma project.

Kalsaria,with the support of Gandhians like Chunibhai Vaidya,intensified the agitation by taking out a protest rally by farmers from the Sabarmati Ashram in Ahmedabad to Gandhinagar on Thursday to register their protest.

Nirma plant: Mahuva farmers denied permission for rally

AHMEDABAD: FARMERS of Mahuva village in Bhavnagar district have been denied permission to take out a rally in Ahmedabad on Thursday to protest against the setting up of the Nirma Cement Plant in their vicinity. The city police has attributed the denial to lack of manpower.

The villagers had planned to take out a rally from the Sabarmati Ashram to Gandhinagar,where the Assembly Session is in progress,to register their protest against proposed plant. BJP legislator Dr Kanu Kalsaria and Gandhian Chuni Vaidya were supposed to lead the agitation.

Ahmedabad Joint Commissioner of Police Satish Sharma said the permission was denied because a number of programmes are lined up in Ahmedabad at the same time. “Such huge rallies require a lot of police personnel,and we are tied up with other programmes,” he said,mentioning official visits prior to the One-Day International cricket match to be held here.

In a statement issued later,the Gujarat Lok Samiti accused the state administration and police of “conniving” and “refusing” them “the most elementary right to march peacefully”. It added that the authorities were preventing villagers from taking buses to the city,and were noting down their names.