Greater Noida: Several farmers associated with BKU-Ambawata gathered at the office of the Greater Noida DCP and the district collectorate on Tuesday and claimed that an FIR lodged against them last week was based on false allegations by toll officials in Jewar. The also demanded that a counter-complaint they lodged against the officials be registered as an FIR.
More than 150 farmers were booked last week after they protested at the Jewar toll and did not allow collection for five minutes. They alleged that the toll officials weren’t allowing their cars to pass without paying toll.
While the toll officials had alleged that the farmers had hurled abuses at them, the latter had refuted all such claims. The farmers had said the toll officials were biased against their outfit and allowing only a few cars of their members to pass without paying toll.
Naresh Chapargarh, the Meerut mandal president of BKU-Ambawata, said a group of villagers had on March 12 wanted to meet the toll booth manager over their earlier demand that villagers around expressways should be exempted from paying toll. But the manager did not come, he added.
Additional DCP (Greater Noida) Vishal Pandey said an investigation had been initiated on the FIR lodged against the farmers at Jewar and the complaint given by them would be forwarded for investigation.