With situation remaining tense in Madhya Pradesh’s Mandsaur, the farmers’ stir today reached the Shajapur district where hundreds of farmers resorted to a blockade.
Farmers disrupted vehicular movement on national highway number 3 by throwing truck-loads of onions onto the roads.
As soon as police learnt about the protest, they rushed to the site and asked farmers not to disrupt the traffic. But their efforts to bring them on to the negotiating table yielded no results, forcing them to fire tear gas to disperse the crowd.
According to reports, farmers also pelted stones at police officials, injuring many of them. As of now, authorities said that situation is under control and precautionary measures have been put in place to check anti-social elements.
On the other hand, two companies of RAF, comprising around 100 men each, have been deployed to Mandsaur and Pipliamandi.
The state government today transferred the Collector and Superintendent of Police of Mandsaur district. Mandsaur Collector Swatantra Kumar Singh is transferred as deputy secretary Mantralaya. Singh was replaced with OP Shrivastava.
The government has also transferred Mandsaur SP, OP Tripathi and posted Manoj Kumar Singh in place of him.
Farmers in the state have been protesting since June 1 demanding a higher minimum support price (MSP) for their produce amongst other issues.
However, the situation escalated on Tuesday when five people were killed. Curfew was clamped subsequently Mandsaur.
