Powermen cane-charged in Lucknow, set afire vehicles

Powermen staging a protest at the state headquarters of the Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation Limited here were cane-charged by police after they went berserk and set afire some vehicles, including a police jeep.

Protesting under the banner "Vidyut Karmachari Sanyukt Sangharsh Samiti", the powermen were headed towards the Vidhan Bhawan, pressing for their eight-point charter of demands when the police tried to stop them from proceeding to the high-security Shakti Bahwan zone.

The charter pertains to issues relating to age of retirement and the increasing privatisation, among others.

Angered by the police's refusal to yield to them, the protestors attacked the police posse and set afire a rickshaw, a jeep and two bikes.

Police reinforcements were sent immediately as the violence escalated. A quick response team also reached the spot but could not contain the violence. A cane-charge was then ordered against the unruly mob, a police official said.

It took two hours for the police to bring the situation under control.

DIG (Lucknow) R.K. Chaturvedi said some policemen were injured during the incident. These included SP (Traffic) Gyan Prakash, whose arm got broken, and sub-inspectors Rajiv Yadav and Ratnesh Pandey. A home guard was also injured.