The Hindu : Ryots on the rampage in Mandya

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Oct 31, 2002

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Ryots on the rampage in Mandya

By Our Staff Correspondent

MYSORE OCT. 30. Violence continued in Mandya town of Karnataka today, with farmers setting ablaze vehicles and going on the rampage, forcing police to resort to lathicharge, burst teargas shells and open fire in the air to quell the mob. The agitation against release of Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu in the district took a turn for the worse, with a large number of farmers defying the prohibitory orders and assembling on the Bangalore-Mysore Highway. Stray incidents of violence were reported from Srirangapatna and K.R. Pet too.

About 500 farmers marched through the main thoroughfares of Mandya, shouting slogans against the Government. The farmers were armed with lathis and one section set the jeeps belonging to the Assistant Commissioner and the Tahsildar on fire. Nearly 5,000 farmers who had assembled near the Silver Jubilee Park refused to disperse, despite police appeal. They hurled stones at the police who burst teargas shells to disperse the mob. As many as 23 platoon of the KSRP and 10 platoons of District Armed Reserved police are stationed in the town.

The scene of high drama was the State Highway where the farmers and police fought a pitched battle for more than an hour, forcing the authorities to send more reinforcements. A strong posse of 2,000 policemen, including the Rapid Action Force and the Karnataka State Reserve Police, arrived and dispersed the farmers. Eyewitnesses said police opened fire in the air, but senior police officials refuted this. While the situation in Mandya was brought under control, violence continued in Srirangapatna. More than 1,000 activists of the Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha marched from Pandavapura to the Krishnaraja Sagar reservoir to court arrest. However, police stopped them. Some persons threw stones at a farmer's bus near Katteri village and tried to set it on fire. But it was foiled.

Curfew clamped

The administration has clamped curfew for three days as a precaution in Mandya, Madder, K.M. Doddi, Srirangapatna and Pandavapura.

The KRRS leader, K.S. Puttaniah, also said the agitation had been "taken over by anti-social elements". He called off the "jail bharo" programme and announced that the KRRS would lend support to the fast being launched by samithi.

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