Friday, December 08, 2006

vidarbha farmers on warpath-pti reports-One killed, six injured in police firing at Wani(yavatmal)

Yavatmal (Maharashtra), Dec 8 (PTI) One person died and six others, including a girl and a constable, were injured today when police fired to disperse violent cotton growers who had gathered at a procurement centre in the district.

Twenty others were injured in a stampede after police firing at the Monopoly Procurement Centre at Wani.

A group of cotton cultivators got agitated after they could not dispose off their produce following the "adamant" attitude of a grader.

They then locked over 22 people, including policemen and federation employees, inside the office room of the procurement centre. Police claimed it opened fire to release those held captive.

They said they fired for the second time to disperse a violent mob of cotton farmers that began pelting stones, in which one Dinesh Gugul died.

Those injured in the firing were: Baburao Chite, Sanjay Pakhale, Dhanraj Jumnake, Geeta, Suresh Jain and constable Narsingh Rathod.

District Guardian Minister Manohar Naik and MLA of Wani Vishwas Nandekar have rushed to the city to pacify the protestors.

Deputy Chief Minister R R Patil is scheduled to visit Wani.

The situation at present is tense, but under control.

Meanwhile, Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti Chairman Kishore Tiwari demanded a judicial inquiry into the police firing and minimum support price of Rs 2,700 per quintal to cotton growers.

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