By IANS,
Chandigarh : A clash between agitating farmers from Punjab and Chandigarh police left several people injured and many vehicles damaged Tuesday evening.
Over 12 policemen and several farmers were injured in the violence. The police later detained scores of farmers.
Leaders of various groups of farmers, who were agitating under the aegis of the Bharat Kisan Union (BKU), claimed that a farmer from Bathinda was killed when he came under the wheels of a bus during the violence.
“A farmer from Bathinda was crushed under the wheels of a bus from which the police violently forced us out,” BKU general secretary Sukhdev Singh told IANS.
However, police officials here said that they could not confirm the death.
Several vehicles, including those of the police, government buses and private ones were damaged and overturned by the agitating farmers. At some places, police officials and personnel had to run for cover.
The road in front of the Sector 16 Cricket Stadium, the home ground of legendary cricketer Kapil Dev, resembled a battleground with damaged vehicles, which included cars and two wheelers, left behind and stones and bricks and shoes lying scattered.
Even media persons were not spared and at least two of them were assaulted by the farmers.
Police resorted to a cane charge and tear gas to disperse the violent mob.
The farmers, however, claimed that the police charge on them was unprovoked. They said that farmers were pulled out of buses and trucks, beaten up and detained.
The farmers were protesting against a move by the Punjab government to allow unbundling of the Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB). Farmers in Punjab enjoy free power, all of which is subsidised by the state government.
They have also been demanding higher remuneration for their crops and compensation for crops damaged due to lack of monsoon this year.