Several injured in police action during farmers rally in Gharsana

Sriganganagar, Oct 16 (UNI) At least three dozen people including Durga Swami, the state general secretary of Janwadi Mahila Samiti, were injured during the farmers' continuing protests in Gharsana area of the district today.

Several people were also arrested from different areas in this connection.

Police used force to disperse the agitating farmers as the mob indulged in stone-pelting and raised slogans against the government during the agitation, which has been on for the past six days now.

The police fired many rounds of rubber bullets, tear gas shells and conducted lathicharges to disperse the crowd.

The farmers have been sitting on dharna outside the Sub-divisional Magistrate's office in Gharsana for the past one week now, demanding additional water from the Indira Gandhi Canal Project for rabi crops and also release of arrested leaders like Hetram Beniwal and Sahebram Punia. The leaders were arrested as a precautionary measure before the rally began on last Tuesday.

The farmers, rallied under the banner of Kisan Mazdoor Vyapari Sangharsh Samiti, had warned of intensifying their stir from Monday if the government failed to comply with their demands by Sunday.

During the rally today, the farmers demanded the release of their leaders within an hour. After the government failed to accommodate their demands, the stir turned violent with stone pelting at the police.

The Cammunist Marxist Party (CPM) and the All India Kisan Sabha today strongly condemned the police action on the farmers.

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