70 farmers protesting against Trident injured in police firing

Barnala, Jan 31 (UNI) At least 70 farmers were injured when police fired rubber bullets on them while they were protesting against the acquiring of agricultural land by the Trident Group at Fategarh Chana village in this district today.

Police also lobbed teargas shells and resorted to lathicharge on farmers when firing in air failed to disperse them.

Niranjan Singh, who was seriously injured in the firing, was referred to Goverment Rajendra Hospital, Patiala, while others with minor injuries were treated in the nearby health centres.

According to official reports here, the police intially appealed to a crowd of about 10,000 farmers including women not to defy prohibitory orders imposed in the village by the District Magistrate a couple of months back. However the agitators confronted the cops, and the Sub-Divisional Margistrate (SDM) on the spot gave the firing orders.

No casualties had been reported so far. The situation in the village was described as tense but under control.

For the last one year, farmers belonging to various 'kisan' groups had held a number of rallies at the village to protest against the takeover of agricultural land by Trident. The state government on the other hand has described the protests as illogical as the farmers whose land Trident had acquired had been compensated by the company and were paid the market rate.

In Amritsar district too the farmers had launched an agitation against the setting up of a Special Economic Zone (SEZ) on fertile agricultural land near Manawal village. The state government in its revised acquisition policy had already declared that farmers would be paid the market price for their acquired land and a company involved in executing any industrial project in Punjab would negotiate directly with the land owners.

UNI