A group of farmers were stopped by the police at Nagvem village in Sanguem while they were proceeding to demonstrate at Panaji.
SANGUEM
Police attempted to stop farmers agitating against the IIT project from proceeding in a bus from Sanguem to Panaji on Tuesday.
On getting information that a bus-load of farmers from Sanguem and Cotarli village were on their way to demonstrate at Azad Maidan in Panaji, the Sanguem police stopped the bus at Nagvem village.
Immediately after being stopped, the farmers alighted the bus and sought to know why the police had stopped the bus and the police then claimed to inspect the vehicle documents, driver's license and the bus permit.
A farmer, Constancio Mascarenhas, informed that the bus driver showed the relevant documents and the permit on his mobile and assured to produce the hard copies of the permit the next day.
The confrontation over production of documents remained unresolved for almost over 90 minutes, when some media persons rushed to the site.
On noticing the media persons arriving at the site, the police reportedly went away.
Sources informed that the area where the bus was stopped by Sanguem police actually comes under the jurisdiction of Quepem police.
After a delay of almost 90 minutes, the farmers later left for Panaji.
Meanwhile, the farmers are expected to gather in large number at their sit-in agitation on Wednesday morning, given the scheduled visit of Chief Minister Pramod Sawant to lay the foundation stone for the new temple building of Paikdev Devasthan at Sanguem.
