JAIPUR: The northwest districts of Rajasthan are in turmoil once again with farmers in Phase I areas of the Indira Gandhi Canal Project reviving their agitation for irrigation water after a gap of two years. Three districts in the area— Sriganganagar, Hanumangarh and Bikaner-- witnessed massive roadblocks on Tuesday while thousands of farmers defied curfew in Gharsana to lay siege to the Dan Mandi area of the town. The affected districts witnessed pitched battles between the police and the farmers during the day in which many persons sustained injuries.

According to information available here in the Capital, the police burst tear gas shells and also fired in the air at half a dozen places near Gharsana when the protesting farmers tried to enter the town. It was in October 2004 that seven farmers were killed in the police firing in the towns of Gharsana and Raola during the agitation for irrigation water. The farmers had later withdrawn the agitation after an agreement with the State Government. The State Secretariat of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) in a statement here said people in as many as 1,500 villages in the area joined the road blockade on Tuesday. The authorities had arrested senior CPI (M) leader Hetram Beniwal and Congress leader Sahibram Punia along with dozens of others during the past two days as a preventive measure.

The proceedings of the Rajasthan Assembly were held up almost for an hour on Tuesday when Speaker Sumitra Singh denied permission to CPI (M) MLA Amra Ram to speak on the issue. The Sriganganagar district administration had clamped curfew in Gharsana in the morning in a pre-emptive move to stop the farmers from holding the "Mahapadav", as announced earlier. However the farmers, under the banner of Kisan Mazdoor Vyapari Sangarsh Samiti (KMVSS), broke the police barricades to reach the town in large numbers. Raola village, another trouble spot during the 2004 agitation, was also brought under curfew along with three other places by evening. In Sakhi village, bordering Pakistan in Sriganganagar district, farmers clashed with the police injuring three police personnel and an equal number of farmers. Clashes took place in 17 MD, 22 MD and 6 DD areas of Sriganganagar, Chaya, Pilibanga, Makkasar and Dholipal of Hanumangarh and Lunkaransar and Kajuwala of Bikaner. "It is our victory. We are sitting on a padav despite the best efforts of the State Government to thwart the attempt," said CPI (M) State secretary Vasudev to The Hindu on phone from the site of the siege in the evening. At least a crowd of 10,000 persons was staying put in the area till evening. Apart from the long-pending demand of release of more water to the Phase I farmers, the CPI (M) as well as KMVSS, which is a non-political entity, are demanding early release of water for the rabi crops this season.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail