Congress rallyists turn violent in Anand collector's office

Anand, Gujarat, Apr 9 (UNI) A rally by the Congress workers, taken out against imposition of value added tax (VAT) on tobacco, sugarcane and ethanol by the Gujarat government, turned violent today when protestors found that neither the Collector nor his representative were present at the office while submission of a memorandum.

The Congress was protesting against introduction of 12 per cent VAT on tobacco and is seeking lifting of 12.5 per cent levy imposed on sugarcane and ethanol production as announced earlier.

The rally, led by Anand district Congress chief Ratansinh Padiyar, began from Sardar Patel's statue. In it, MLAs Amit Chavda and Rajubhai Parmar, city Congress chief D C Patel and Panchayat chief Ratanben Jadav took part.

The rallyists were incensed when they did not find the collector, R N Joshi, or his representative for submitting their memorandum. The Congress workers began breaking the advertising boards depicting tourism and 'Nirmal Gujarat'. They also entered the collector's room and tore off the wall calender. There was much slogan-shouting against Chief Minister Narendra Modi.

Later, Mr Joshi came to his office while the mob was around and accepted the memorandum against VAT.

Ratansinh Padiyar informed Mr Joshi that they will hold a maha rally in Gandhinagar on April 28.

Emphasising that Mr Joshi should take up the issue with Mr Modi and help find a solution, he warned that if any violence broke out in Gandhinagar during the forthcoming maha rally, the blame would lie with the administration.

Mr Joshi told UNI that he would take legal action against the vandals.

''I have spoken to the Superintendent of Police about this,'' he said.

The Congress contended that the 12.5 per cent VAT, introduced by the state government on ethanol, an organic byproduct of sugarcane production, is unfair especially since sugarcane farmers have been hit hard due to massive floods last year that damaged their crops.

The production and sale of ethanol is needed to bring farmers out of the debt trap. Taxing the farmers on ethanol will have a drastic impact on their overall well-being, Congress sources said.

UNI