JAIPUR: The tehsil town of Gharsana and the neighbouring Raola in Sriganganagar district of Rajasthan were brought under curfew on Tuesday morning after the previous night's clashes between the police and the farmers agitating for irrigation water. The troops deployed late on Monday evening took over Gharsana town, which was till the other day virtually under the control of farmers who had laid siege to the Dan Mandi area for the past seven days.

The troops carried out flag marches in the town. The farmers, and their leaders who led the agitation under the banner of Kisan Mazdoor Vyapari Sangarsh Samiti, were either nursing their injured or in hiding. About 20 injured have been admitted to the Gharsana hospital and the district hospital in Sriganganagar.

The authorities said curfew was clamped in Raola as a precautionary measure as in the previous agitation by the farmers on the same issue in October-November 2004 both Raola and Gharsana had witnessed serious violence. There were no reports of any untoward incident today.

The CPI (Marxist) and the CPI after a joint meeting in Jaipur on Tuesday decided to hold a demonstration here on Wednesday. Pradesh Congress Committee president B.D. Kalla has sought a judicial enquiry into the police action in which 55 persons were injured.

After the first round of confrontation which started around 4-30 p.m. and lasted till 7 p.m., the police and the farmers clashed once again from 11-30 at night to 1 a.m., the eyewitnesses said.

CPI(M) condemns

The Communist Party of India (Marxist) has condemned the lathi-charge on farmers at Gharsana and demanded the release of the arrested leaders.

The Polit Bureau said many, including a woman leader, were injured in the lathi-charge on those assembled to take out a procession to the Sub Divisional Magistrate's office. The Army was deployed and curfew imposed.

"It is shocking that the BJP Government deployed the Army against the farmers," the statement said. It said for a week, the peasantry and the local people had been agitating for the implementation of the agreement to supply water for the rabi crop from the Indira Gandhi canal. Instead of meeting the demand, the State Government `cracked down' on the agitators, it added.

The Polit Bureau demanded that the Government implement the agreement.

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