Bhopal: Violence broke out today during a farmers’ protest in Mandsaur in Madhya Pradesh following which curfew was today clamped in Pipalya Mandi area and prohibitory orders imposed in other parts of the district, officials said.
According to unconfirmed reports, two farmers were killed after police opened fire on violent protesters in Bhai Parshnath area, but Mandsaur Collector S K Singh denied it.
“Curfew has been clamped in Pipalya Mandi police station area and in the rest of the district section 144 of CrPC has been imposed,” Singh told PTI over the phone.
When asked about reports claiming the death of two farmers, Singh said he does not have any such information. Farmers in western Madhya Pradesh are protesting since June 1 demanding minimum support price for their farm produce, among other things.
BJP leader and Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan yesterday said his government is taking all necessary steps to address the issues of the agitating farmers.
A price stabilisation fund of Rs 1,000 crore would be set up to purchase the farm produce at the minimum support price (MSP), he had said. Mandsaur is about 325 km from the state capital Bhopal.
Since 2005, Madhya Pradesh has been led by Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan who met with representatives of farmer unions recently to pledge support.
The agitation by farmers has led to a shortage of vegetables; farmers have been pouring thousands of litres of milk on roads to call attention to their demands.
The western part of Madhya Pradesh adjoins Maharashtra, where farmers have been holding similar demonstrations. They want Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis’ government to take steps to boost farm incomes and output including waiving all agricultural loans, similar to the $5.6 billion in debt forgiveness announced in April by Yogi Adityanth after he took over as Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh.
Prices of vegetables and milk have jumped more than 50 percent in major cities such as Mumbai and the information and technology hub of Pune after farmers cut supplies from Thursday.
The outbursts of rural discontent in Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh pose a challenge to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has promised to double farm incomes over the next five year
Maharashtra, India’s second most populous state, is the country’s second-biggest producer of sugar, cotton and soybean.
Chief Minister Fadnavis has said the government will waive the debt of marginal farmers who defaulted in the last few years, adding a panel would be set up to find ways to implement the waiver.
Maharashtra needs to spend 305 billion rupees or $4.7 billion to write off debt owed by about 3.2 million farmers who had defaulted on bank loans, he said last week.
But farmers say they want the government to waive all debt and not just marginal, or poorer, farmers who defaulted on loans.
(Agencies)
