MP: IG admits police opened fire during farmers' stir; Mandsaur DM, SP transferred

MANDSAUR: After Madhya Pradesh Home Minister denied reports of firing by local police or CRPF on agitating farmers in Mandsaur, the IG (Law and Order) Makrand Deuskar admitted that police did resort to firing during protest in the violence-hit district. "After a preliminary investigation, it is now clear that the police did open fire. However, under what circumstances did cops resort to this action, is still not clear. The investigation is still underway," Deuskar said. Five farmers were shot dead and dozens injured as a gathering storm among the peasantry in several states broke on Tuesday in Madhya Pradesh. The deaths took place in Mandsaur, 340km from Bhopal. Meanwhile, the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government on Thursday transferred the collector and superintendent of police of Mandsaur district . Mandsaur Collector Swatantra Kumar Singh is transferred as deputy secretary Mantralaya. Singh was replaced with OP Shrivastava, official sources said. The government also transferred Mandsaur SP, OP Tripathi and posted Manoj Kumar Singh in place of him, the sources added. Widespread violence, including several incidents of arson, were reported from western Madhya Pradesh, especially Mandsaur and Dewas districts, on the seventh day of farmers' agitation. The Centre rushed 1,100 anti-riots police personnel and contingents of RAF were also deployed. Rahul Gandhi will on Thursday morning visit the violence-hit district. Police said they will stop Congress vice-president from entering given Mandsaur's tense situation. The agitating farmers were demanding minimum support price for their crops and loan waivers. The demand for loan relief has spread like wildfire across several states in northern India after the Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh had fulfilled the BJP's poll promise by announcing a Rs 36,359-crore waiver. The outburst of rural discontent has cast a cloud on the claim by Chouhan, the five-time winner of the Krishi Karman Award conferred by the Centre for maximum foodgrain production in the country. Farmers in several states, such as Maharashtra, where a farmer committed suicide on Tuesday, Haryana, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, have been seeking loan waivers after the BJP government in Uttar Pradesh wrote off dues. Many farmers in Madhya Pradesh want Chouhan to write off outstanding loans, pointing to unseasonal rainfall and drought in the past three years. In March, SBI chief Arundhati Bhattacharya had cautioned that "credit discipline breaks when you waive off farm loans. Money will come in today because government will pay but when we will give loan in future, farmers will wait for next elections".