Four persons, including a woman, were killed and several others injured on Tuesday in police firing during a farmers’ protest at the Mumbai-Pune highway. A number of policemen were also injured.
The farmers were agitating over supply of water from the Pawna Dam and acquisition of their land for a project to facilitate water supply to the industrial township of Pimpri-Chinchwad. Later, the demonstrators had brought traffic on the main Mumbai-Pune Expressway to a standstill. Three protestors were killed on the spot and one succumbed later to his injuries.
According to Sandeep Karnik, superintendent of police, Pune Rural, farmers from Maval taluka had organised a rally on the stretch of the Expressway at Bahur village near the Kamshet tunnel in the morning. When the police asked them to vacate the road once the agitation was over, the protesters started attacked the officials and began pelting stones. “The police fired 21 rounds of tear gas and 25 rubber bullets, and fired their service pistols in the air, after which they fired in self defence,” Karnik said. The situation is now under control, though tension looms over the region.
An Additional SP, a police inspector and 29 constables were injured and three police vehicles torched and some private vehicles, including a bus were damaged by the mob. After the news of a villager being shot dead spread, the enraged agitators went on a rampage. An agitator said, “This project would deprive the local farmers of their land and also affect the supply of drinking water in the region.”
Protestors said that trouble started near Bahur village when police officials tried to use force to clear the highway blockade. Thousands of farmers blocked the old Mumbai-Pune Highway and the new Mumbai-Pune Expressway, resulting in a traffic jam stretching more than 10 km, on both highways in either direction. The highway was cleared for traffic in the late afternoon.
Proceedings at the Maharashtra legislative asssembly were adjourned after the opposition created an uproar over the deaths, severely criticising the government action. Additional police force has been deployed in the area and the situation is expected to remain tense, as villagers are observing a bandh at Maval taluka against the project.
This incident is an addition to the spate of incidents over forcible land acquisition in the recent past. Earlier this year, there were huge protests and violent clashes between the police and villagers in Bhatta Parsaul village of Uttar Pradesh over acquisition of land for the Yamuna Expressway resulting in the death of several farmers. In 2007-08, there were several cases of violence and protests in Nandigram, West Bengal over the acquisition of land for building a chemical hub. The Nano car project of the Tatas in Singur, West Bengal was shifted to Gujarat in 2008 after protests erupted over the acquisition of farmers’ land for the project.
