Bhopal, January 30: Congressmen in Madhya Pradesh led by their President Suresh Pachouri and Acting Leader of Opposition in Assembly Rakesh Singh Chaturvedi today staged a road blockade here after being prevented by authorities from marching to the Raj Bhawan to raise farmers” issues.
A group of Congressmen were on their way to Raj Bhavan to submit a memorandum to Governor Rameshwar Thakur on the issue of farmers” suicides in the BJP-ruled state when they were stopped by police from moving forward and a scuffle ensued between them.
Police cane-charged the protesting Congressmen and used teargas shells to disperse them following which the enraged party workers led by Pachouri staged a road blockade in front of the Police Control Room disrupting traffic.
“We were silently marching towards Raj Bhavan to submit a memorandum to the Governor on the issue of farmer suicides and adequate compensation when police prevented us from going ahead. They cane-charged our workers brutally and fired teargas shells on us,” Pachouri told PTI.
“To express solidarity with the farmers, who are in deep trouble as frost and coldwave have damaged their crops, we have decided not to consume food till their (farmers) problems are resolved,” the State Congress chief announced.
Nearly a dozen Congressmen suffered injuries in the police cane-charge, Pachouri claimed.
The main Opposition party demanded that the Governor direct the Shivraj Singh Chouhan Government to provide adequate compensation, quality fertiliser and seeds to the affected farmers.
Pachouri alleged that though the State Government has announced a Rs 500-crore relief package for the frost-hit farmers, the assistance is not reaching them.
The Congress leader said he has met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar on the issue and appealed to them to send a Central team to assess the damage to the crops.
The Centre has already provided an assistance of Rs 147.28 crore to the State Government for providing compensation to the farmers, he added.
——–PTI