A protest by a group of farmers against the alleged shortage of the fertilizer Diammonium Phosphate (DAP) in Mahendergarh’s Nangal Choudhary turned violent, with some angry protesters allegedly pelting stones at a police party, including at least one assistant deputy, on Friday. Inspector (ASI) got injured. . The incident happened on a day when at least 1,000 policemen were deployed in the district to maintain law and order during the distribution process of the DAP, which farmers claim is in short supply in the state.
The ASI suffered a minor injury in one hand during stone pelting on Friday, police said.
Mahendragarh is known for the production of Mustard in Haryana. Farmers in the area are getting restless due to the alleged lack of DAP, which is needed to prepare the fields before sowing of mustard. On Friday, DAP was distributed from three police stations of Mahendragarh district, Narnaul, Kanina and Nangal Chaudhary, to prevent long queues of farmers in front of shops, which had become common in the district in the last few days. . 1,000 policemen were deployed to maintain law and order during the distribution process, whether distribution was being done by officials of cooperative societies or employees of private dealers.
As soon as the distribution process began on Friday, a group of farmers planned to block the road in Nangal Choudhary to vent their anger against the alleged shortage of DAP fertiliser. As soon as the farmers landed on the road, someone dialed 112 and informed the police, after which a police team was immediately sent to the spot.
“As soon as the police team reached the spot, some people from the crowd pelted stones at them. We have rounded up 2-3 people for questioning,” said Mahendragarh SP Chandra Mohan. Indian Express. Police sources said that the agitators dispersed from the spot after more police force reached there.
Sources said that the crisis of DAP in the district is so dire that till 7 pm on Friday, more than two thousand farmers were standing in a queue near Nangal Chaudhary to get manure. Farmers started coming to the distribution centers from Friday morning itself.
Incidentally, a few days back (Wednesday), a group of farmers were seen stealing DAP bags from the stock of a private dealer in Ateli, Mahendragarh.
The police had registered an FIR on Wednesday after at least 100 bags of diammonium phosphate (DAP) fertilizer were stolen by farmers from a grain market at Ateli in the same district. Later, about 50 bags of manure were recovered, the police said.
A video of the incident surfaced on social media. Several men and women can be seen in the video – carrying sacks of manure or carrying them on their heads and on motorcycles. A police officer said: “Since early morning people had gathered in the mandi to buy fertilizers. A retailer had distributed over 400 coupons, while the supply of fertilizer was short. In the long queues, one or two people got irritated and picked up some sacks and started running. The rest also joined them and within minutes everyone started looting the sacks.
On his part, Haryana’s Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister claimed that the state has sufficient stock of fertilizer, and said that long queues of farmers wanting to buy DAP in different parts of Haryana have been filled with rumours.
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