Pune: Four persons, including a woman, were
killed in police firing at Maval near here today when a
farmers' protest against a dam water pipeline project turned
violent.
The trouble broke out after about 400 agitators held a
rally along the Mumbai-Pune expressway, blocking the busy
vehicular traffic and refusing to disperse despite police
request, Sandeep Karnik, Superintendent, Pune Rural police,
said.
The farmers attacked policemen and their vehicles, after
which the officers fired at the mob that indulged in heavy
stone-pelting, he claimed. The officer said police resorted to
firing when teargas and rubber bullet rounds failed to control
the demonstrators.
About 25 policemen received injuries in stone-pelting by
the mob and the condition of an inspector was serious, police
added.
The farmers were protesting against the closed water
pipeline project conceived to supply water to the neighbouring
industrial township of Pimpri Chinchwad from the Pavna dam in
the region.
A spokesman of the protesting farmers, said the project
would deprive the local farmers of their land and affect
supply of drinking water in the region, about 70 kms from
here.
Police rounded up about 300 people in connection with the
violent incidents even as villagers observed a bandh in
support of their demand.
Traffic on the expressway connecting the two cities
remained paralysed for over three hours with vehicles queuing
up along many kilometers, sources said.
Police said the situation, though tense, was "under
control" and the traffic normalised.
PTI
First Published: Tuesday, August 09, 2011, 15:34