One injured in police firing near Yavatmal

Nagpur, Dec 8 (UNI) One person was hurt after police opened fire to disperse a crowd of farmers protesting the slow procurement process at a cotton purchase centre in Selu village (Khurd) near Wani in Yavatmal district of Vidarbha region of Maharashtra today.

The police first resorted to a lathicharge and then fired into the air to disperse the crowd, which was getting restless because of the delay caused by a fault in the weighing machine, Yavatmal district Superintendent of Police Abdur Rehman told UNI.

One farmer, Pandurang Jumnake, was injured in the firing, he said.

The situation was now under control, he said.

Later in the day, Maharashtra Marketing Minister Harshavardhan Patil informed the Legislative Assembly about the incident.

Officials at the centre summoned the police after the farmers got restless at the delay, he said.

Mr Patil said the cotton procurement centres would remain open tomorrow and Sunday also because of the rush of cultivators.

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