Hyderabad: Ten people, including police officials, were injured when farmers and cops clashed on the National Highway 44 in Narsingi, Medak district.
The farmers stopped vehicles for at least five hours with a Rasta Roko agitation over power shortage in their mandal.
The agitators complained that despite it being the kharif season, power supply has been very poor for the past one week. Medak police tried to disperse the demonstrators and clear the highway, resorting to lathi-charge. The farmers retaliated by pelting stones.
Inspector of Ramayampet Gangadhar was seriously injured after he was assaulted by the farmers. Two other cops from the same police station were also injured.
At least seven farmers sustained injuries in the lathi-charge. All of them were shifted to hospitals in Medak district. In the heavy stone pelting, RTC buses and police vehicles were damaged.
The situation got tense when police from Ramayampet came to the spot and tried to disperse the farmers. “As traffic came to halt on the Hyderabad and Nizamabad route, we had to remove the agitators from the road, to resume the flow of vehicles. We tried to pacify them for many hours, however, they did not respond,” said a senior police officer from Toopran sub-division.
Meanwhile, a few agitators pelted stones at police vehicles inviting a lathi-charge, the official said.
Farmers in Mahbubnagar, Nizamabad and Nalgonda districts also staged road blockades and laid siege to power sub-stations to protest erratic supply.
Telangana state is reeling under severe power shortage and the authorities have imposed daily cuts on various categories of consumers, including four to six hour cuts for domestic consumers.
Taking note of the incident, Telangana Chief Minister, K. Chandrasekhar Rao, directed the authorities to ensure minimum of six hours of power supply a day to farmers.
Agriculture Minister P. Srinivas Reddy termed the baton charge on farmers as unfortunate, and said there was need for police to exercise utmost restraint in dealing with such protests.
