Saturday, 18 June 2022 | PNS | HALDWANI
The police had to resort to lathi-charge when youth protesting against the Agnipath scheme in Haldwani on Friday blocked the Nainital highway and refused to clear it. The protest caused major inconvenience to the public and after initial attempts to make the protesters clear the Nainital highway failed, the police resorted to using force against them. Some of the protesting youth were injured in the lathi-charge while about a dozen of them were detained by the police.
A number of youth gathered at the Ramleela Maidan here on Friday to protest against the recently announced Agnipath scheme. From the ground, the youth took out a protest rally to Tikonia intersection where they blocked the road. As the protesters blocked the traffic and raised slogans against the government, long queues of vehicles formed in both directions on the Nainital highway. Officials of the local administration and heavy police force were deployed at the site. The officials first tried to convince the protesters to clear the road but the youth were adamant and continued to block the road while raising slogans against the Central government. As a precautionary measure, the administration deployed heavy police force on the Nainital road and also got the nearby shops to down shutters. When the youth continued to block the road and protest, the police resorted to lathi-charge to disperse them. Superintendent of police (Crime) Jagdish Chandra informed that the protesting youth were addressed many times and requested to stage their protest at the proper place. However, they refused to comply and were resorting to anarchy. Due to this, the police had to resort to lathi-charge. Provincial Armed Constabulary has been deployed at the bus station, railway station and other locations in the city.
