Around 100 Congress workers were taken into custody here today for staging a protest against Lt Governor Kiran Bedi, condemning what they called her recent bid to "dislocate" the free rice scheme in rural areas.
The protesters raised slogans 'go back' against Bedi while she was on her way to Aayi Pond to plant saplings to 'conserve' water bodies for posterity and make the Union Territory 'water-rich.'
The protesters, who were led by PCC general secretary A K D Arumugham, were taken into custody, police said.
Speaking to newsmen, Arumugham said the imposition of a 'condition' by Bedi that villages not maintained properly would not get the benefit of free rice scheme was "utterly unwholesome and objectionable."
Bedi, however, withdrew the directive hours after she issued it, as it drew flak from opposition parties.
The ruling Congress, its ally DMK and Left parties had yesterday staged a demonstration near Raj Nivas here.
Party leaders condemned Bedi's recent announcement that implementation of the scheme in rural areas was subject to the maintenance of hamlets and keeping them 'open defecation free and garbage free.'
On April 28, the former IPS officer had directed authorities to clean villages, a pre-condition for distribution of free rice, but withdrew it within hours after protests by Opposition parties.
She had cited poor sanitation conditions in rural pockets during her visits and to make a turnaround, directed linking rice distribution to good sanitation in villages.
Bedi also set a May 31 deadline for villages to be made clean.
Ever since she became Lt Governor in May 2016, Bedi and the Congress government have been at loggerheads over various issues.
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