An agitation by sugarcane farmers demanding an increase in the fair and remunerative price (FRP), led by the Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana and other farmer outfits, took a violent turn on Wednesday with the police firing plastic bullets, lobbing teargas and resorting to lathi charge the protestors.
Parts of Ahmednagar, Aurangabad and Solapur districts, especially the Shevgaon-Paithan stretch, witnessed fierce clashes between farmers and the police with the latter taking recourse to firing to disperse agitators.
Shevgaon was the hub of the violence, with a number of villages in the taluk strewn with burnt tyres, smashed glass panes of vehicles and road barricades.
Pellet injuries
Two farmers and some police personnel have been injured as a consequence of the clashes. Uddhav Vikram Napari (32) and Baburao Dukare (45) — both farmers hailing from Paithan in Aurangabad — received pellet injuries. Both are admitted at hospitals in Ahmednagar.
Police officers Suresh Sakpale, Sudarshan Mundhe and Govind Omase too suffered serious injuries and were being treated in Shevgaon, said sources.
The farmers, led by the SSS, have been demanding an FRP of ₹3,100 a tonne from the owners of the Gangamai sugar factory in Shevgaon.
Week-long standoff
According to the police, the standoff between the farmers and factory owners has been ensuing over the past week with SSS leaders and farmers staging road blockades to restrict the movement of trucks carrying sugarcane.
“Commuters faced major problems as protestors blocked the roads connecting Ahmednagar and Aurangabad districts. A complaint was lodged against the agitators on Tuesday and 13 SSS leaders were taken into custody. Since Wednseday morning, the agitators resumed their protest by burning tyres and pelting stones on the police. We were compelled to take riot-control measures,” Ranjan Kumar Sharma, Ahmednagar Superintendent of Police, told The Hindu .
Following the arrest of the SSS leaders, the farmers burnt tyres, blocked roads and pelted stones in a number of villages in Ahmednagar. A state transport bus and a bullock cart was torched, while stones were thrown at some police vehicles in Shevgaon.
Similar violent scenes were witnessed in Pategaon in Aurangabad.
“It is a clear move on the part of the Fadnavis government to bust the farmers’ agitation…this protest [for a higher FRP], which was to last for three days, had been proceeding absolutely peacefully before the police launched a ferocious lathi charge on the demonstrators early morning today,” alleged SSS chief Raju Shetti and blamed the Ahmednagar district administration for failing to resolve the farmers’ problems.
“Ideally, the authorities ought to have mediated between the sugarcane factory owners and the farmers. But instead, they responded by taking farmer leaders into police custody which in turn prompted an adverse reaction on part of the agitators,” Mr. Shetti said.
Senior Congress leader Harshawardhan Patil, too, criticised the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government for apathy to farmers’ problems.
“It is indeed sad that the farmer in Maharashtra under this government has to take recourse to agitation for every demand, big or small,” he said.
