By IANS,
Chandigarh : A “peaceful” agitation by 30,000 farmers from Punjab Tuesday held Chandigarh to ransom during the peak evening rush hour – leading to large-scale violence that left scores injured, among them 35 policemen.
The farmers were holding a rally to protest the Punjab government’s move 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.
A farmer, Jagsir Singh of Bathida district in south-west Punjab, was killed when he fell from a bus and was crushed under its wheels.
Chandigarh’s Inspector General of Police (IG) S.K. Jain told reporters Tuesday evening that the 30,000-strong agitating farmers resorted to unproved violence around 5 p.m.
“They attacked the police personnel with bricks, stones and liquor bottles. We had put up nearly 20,000 police personnel to manage four agitations taking place in the city today. While the other three passed off peacefully, this one became violent,” he said.
The violence led to total chaos in a five square km area in the heart of Chandigarh as thousands of vehicles were stranded in traffic jams as roads were blockeed following the agitation and the violence. The violence spot is close to the inter-state bus terminus in Sector 17, the city’s main commercial hub.
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, and stones, liquor bottles, bricks and shoes lying scattered.
Jain said that five inspectors, one deputy superintendent of police (DSP) and one superintendent of police (SP) were injured in the attack by the farmers.
“Two of the inspectors are in a serious condition in hospital. The farmers resorted to unprovoked violence and injured many. They damaged several vehicles and other buildings. Many of them were drunk,” Jain said.
The Chandigarh police, assisted by police personnel from Punjab and Haryana, later detained over 40 agitators from the Bharatiya Kisan Union (Ugrahan group).
The farmers, however, claimed that the police charge on them was unprovoked. They said farmers were pulled out of buses and trucks, beaten up and detained.
“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.
The IG, however, said that the youth was sitting on the roof of the bus and was killed when he fell from there.
He said that 16 government transport buses, three Punjab police buses, a number of police and private vehicles were damaged by the farmers. The farmers tried to set some vehicles on fire too.
The violent protesters did not spare a nearby neuro-psychiatry hospital and a government run hotel either, and damaged these buildings too.
Even mediapersons were not spared and at least two of them were assaulted by the farmers. Both were admitted to a government hospital here.
Police resorted to a cane charge, water cannon and tear gas to disperse the violent mob.
Jain said that the Chandigarh police are coordinating with the Punjab police to arrest BKU leaders responsible for the violence in the city Tuesday.
“We will not spare them. They did not spare anyone or anything that came their way,” Jain said.