Southern States - Karnataka   

Two killed in police firing in Hiriyur

By Our Staff Correspondent

HIRIYUR JULY 25. Two persons were killed and 20, injured in police firing, lathicharge, and stone pelting when a bandh turned violent here on Thursday. Some policemen were among the injured. The bandh was called by various organisations to oppose the setting up of a biomass-based power generation unit by the Chennai firm, R.K.Powerjen, here.

The company bought about 80 acres of land on Hiriyur-Challakere Road on the outskirts of the town to set up the unit. The local people opposed this on the grounds that it would create environmental problems. The State Government had given the green signal for the construction and work had been going on with heavy police protection for the past 10 days.

A mob of about 4,000, including women, today went to the construction site, which is about four km away from the town, to protest. Police resorted to a lathicharge when the mob started throwing stones at them. When this proved ineffective, police burst teargas shells and then opened fire. Two persons were killed.

Eyewitnesses gave the name of one of the dead as Eranna (30) of Maddakkanahalli in Sira taluk of Tumkur District, who had married a girl from Hosahatti near the town recently. The identity of the other person was not known. Rangaswamy (25) from Rangenahalli and Nagendrappa (40) from Eeshwaragere, who were injured in the police firing, have been admitted to the government hospital in Chitradurga.

The mob torched five vehicles of the company on the construction site, burnt furniture, smashed sheds, and destroyed cement bags.

The arsonists threw stones at the vehicle of the Assistant Commissioner, Chitradurga, Sayed Ali Razwi, and pushed it into a huge trench before setting it on fire. The official, who was injured on the head, was rushed to hospital.

Kashinath Adi, Deputy Superintendent of Police, Hiriyur, who was seriously injured in stone throwing, was rushed to the hospital in Chitradurga. S.Murugan, Superintendent of Police, Chitradurga District, and Nagappa, Additional Superintendent of Police, were also injured.

The mob later raided the police quarters and set fire to 34 barrels of palmolein which was seized by the police recently. Women were pulled out of their houses and assaulted. The fence of the police quarters and 10 two-wheelers parked there were set on fire.

The mob then turned its ire on the office of the Assistant Executive Engineer, KPTCL. The arsonists broke open the doors and set fire to documents. They stormed the Traveller's Bungalow, destroyed furniture, and set fire to some vehicles, including a police jeep.

Of the injured, four policemen have been admitted to the Government Hospital in Chitradurga. D.Manjunath, former Minister and president of the district unit of the Janata Dal (Secular), and Yashodara, took part in the agitation against the setting up of the power generation unit.

Hiriyur is represented in the Legislative Assembly by the Minister for Forests, K.H. Ranganath.

The Deputy Commissioner, C.N.Sitaram, has clamped prohibitory orders on the town. Traffic on NH 4 was diverted from Sira to Dharmapura, Parashurampura, and Challakere. Several trucks were stranded on the highway from morning till evening.

The Inspector-General of Police (Eastern Range), G.M.Hayatt, arrived here in the evening.

Mr. Manjunath and H.Ekantaiah, former Minister, has demanded a judicial probe into the police firing. The two leaders attributed the violence to the "failure" of intelligence gathering. They said police had underestimated the protest of the local people.

Police authorities had not taken the bandh call given by the Hiriyur Taluk Parisara Hitarakshana Samiti, Yuvashakti Sangha, and women's groups seriously. The two leaders demanded that the Government take action against the police officials responsible for the firing.

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