HAVERI: A day after angry farmers set fire to the office of the Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC) and burnt vehicles in Byadagi on Monday evening over the sudden fall in the prices of chilli varieties, the police have taken 47 people into custody.
Over 1,000 farmers had taken part in the flash protest in which six cars, one fire tender, police vans and three two-wheelers were burnt. The arrested have been booked for damaging public property. Though the situation is peaceful, the police have heightened security at the APMC market.
On Monday evening, about 15 policemen who arrived at the scene of the protest were chased away by the farmers. Two of them, including SP Anshukumar, sustained injuries in the melee. Fireman Manjunaik said, “If we hadn’t run, our lives wouldn’t have been spared. They even burnt down a fire tender”. At least three shops were gutted and the shop of trader Jagadish Devihosur was also ransacked and cash of Rs 7.5 lakh was stolen.
“There was an uproar about chilli prices. Three shops were gutted, and one person was also injured. We have already taken some people into custody and an investigation is underway”, SP Anshukumar had said on Monday evening.
All vehicles carrying chilli and entering the town were being checked today. Teams of the forensic land and scene of crime officers (SOCO) arrived from Davanagere and conducted inspection.
Meanwhile, Opposition leader in the Assembly, R Ashoka, accused the Chief Minister Siddaramaiah-led Congress government of its ‘anti-farmer policies’ that left the farmers angry.
“The incident of angry farmers attacking the APMC office and setting the vehicles on fire in Haveri is a direct consequence of the CM Siddaramaiah-led Congress government’s anti-farmer policies and lackadaisical attitude in managing drought situations, which has left the farmers completely dismayed and annoyed. If only the Congress government had addressed the farmers’ issues proactively and distributed sufficient drought relief at the right time, the farmers wouldn’t have taken such a desperate step to vandalise the APMC premises”, Ashoka said in a post on X.
He further urged the Chief Minister to provide a ‘guarantee of drought relief’ to the farmers. “At least now, CM Siddaramaiah should wake up from deep slumber and provide a ‘guarantee of drought relief’ to Anandatas. Otherwise, the day is not far when desperate farmers will set ablaze the CM’s residence and Vidhan Soudha”, he said.
The APMC members held a meeting on Tuesday with Byadagi MLA Basavaraj Shivannanavar, Deputy Commissioner Raghunandan Murthy and SP Anshukumar at the Siddeshwara Kalyana Mantap to discuss the reasons for the sudden crash in prices of chilli and whether the farmers were deliberately provoked.
The meeting decided to call for fresh tenders, conduct trading twice a week, seek investigation into damage to public property and set up a police outpost at the APMC yard.