Activists criticise police for denying ‘right to protest’

Environmentalists on Monday lambasted the Delhi Police for denying Yamuna Rakshak Dal volunteers their ‘right to protest’. The protesters are demanding a clean natural flowing Yamuna.

Environmentalists on Monday lambasted the Delhi Police for denying Yamuna Rakshak Dal volunteers their ‘right to protest’. The protesters are demanding a clean natural flowing Yamuna.

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Thousands of residents from Mathura, Vrindavan and other places in Braj area as well as ordinary farmers plan to ‘gherao’ Parliament on Tuesday. They have a single point demand: ‘Hum jumnaji ko lene aaye hai’ (we want more water released in the Yamuna from Hathni Kund downstream)."

Acharya Pankaj Baba, national trustee of the Yamuna Rakshak Dal, said the police disallowed tractor trolleys on Delhi roads in view of the traffic congestion and gave them permission for just 1500-2000 people. But why should there be a restriction on the number of people headed there?

Himanshu Thakkar, coordinator of South Asia Network for Dams, River and People, said, “(It is) completely unacceptable, undemocratic. One, the government is violating the law of the land. It is the national Capital that has been shamelessly dumping sewage into the river for years together and now it is for these very people you worry about traffic woes.”