Vehicles of Yoga guru Ramdev Baba led Patanjali Yog Samiti carrying food and other relief materials for the landslide affected Malin villagers were allegedly denied entry at the police check post near Dimbhe Dam, Sunday, despite having ?necessary permission? from the government department concerned.
?We were carrying 100 kg rice, other food grains along with spices, 1,000 biscuit packets and 300 bottles of distilled water among other relief materials. We were also carrying clothes for the Malin villagers. A total of three vehicles were carrying the relief aid of our organisation and Gayatri Parivar. These vehicles were denied entry by police at check point,? Samiti?s western Maharashtra chief Bapu Padalkar told Newsline. He said necessary permission letter was obtained from Manchar taluka office before leaving for the village with the relief aid.
?We showed the permission letter to the police officials manning the check point at Dimbhe Dam. It clearly mentioned that relief material is going to be transported to NDRF camp. Yet, the cops refused to allow our vehicles into the area. They argued that several vehicles had already jammed the road to Malin village. However, the cops were allowing other vehicles to go. Some of the vehicles that were allowed to pass were not carrying any relief aid,? Padalkar said.
All attempts by Patanjali Yog Samiti volunteers to convince the officials by talking to government officials concerned and senior politicians proved futile. Only a timely intervention by the State Assembly speaker Dilip Walse-Patil saved the day for the volunteers.
?We spoke to revenue department officials based in Manchar who had given us permission letter. Police did not pay any heed to them. We tried to contact superintendent of Pune rural police Manoj Kumar Lohiya, whose mobile phone was out of range. Then we spoke to Shirur MP Shivaji Adhalrao-Patil, Pune MP Anil Shirole and Kasba MLA Girish Bapat. Finally, as a last resort, we contacted Walse Patil, who was about to reach Malin. He arrived within an hour or so and carried away with him the relief aid we brought,? Padalkar said.
He alleged that their was lack of coordination between police and government department for the incident. Authorities at the Ghodegaon police station said there staff was not deployed at the Dimbhe check point.
