Police foil farmers’ march; detain protestors, oppn leaders

Heavy police deployment along Marine Drive, at Girgaon Chowpatty and near Mantralaya ensured that the situation didn’t spin out of control. Police sent over 100 protestors to Azad Maidan, where they held protests, while over 500 protestors were detained at various police stations in South Mumbai until 7.30pm

MUMBAI: Chaos reigned in South Mumbai as police intercepted a protest by mango and cashew farmers, who were to march from Girgaon Chowpatty to Varsha, the chief minister’s bungalow, on Friday afternoon.

Police foil farmers’ march; detain protestors, oppn leaders

The farmers, who had arrived from the Konkan, were highlighting massive crop losses due to climate change. They are also unhappy with the state government’s compensation of ₹22,000 per hectare.

Around 30 minutes before the march was to start, police detained farmer leader Raju Shetti, Congress state president Harshwardhan Sapkal, and Shiv Sena (UBT) leader and former MP Vinayak Raut, among others supporting the march, even as farmers threw mangoes at the law-enforcers.

Heavy police deployment along Marine Drive, at Girgaon Chowpatty and near Mantralaya ensured that the situation didn’t spin out of control. Police sent over 100 protestors to Azad Maidan, where they held protests, while over 500 protestors were detained at various police stations in South Mumbai until 7.30pm.

Officer-bearers of the Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana, which had orgainsed the march, Raju Shetti, and other farmer leaders were released at 6:00 pm.

Although the situation remained under control, barring minor clashes, traffic at Nariman Point and along Marine Drive was seriously impacted. The check posts deployed to rein in protestors slowed motorists, triggering a domino effect.

After he was released, Shetti slammed the government. He said, “Farmers from the Konkan have been protesting for two months. The chief minister visited the Konkan three or four times for various official engagements. However, he neither acknowledged our grievances, nor bothered to accept a simple memorandum from farmers. For the first time in 50 years, farmers from the Konkan have travelled to Mumbai, to raise their concerns. But the government used force to silence them.”

On the police action during the protest, Shetti remarked, “We committed no crime. We merely attempted to stage a protest. The police had no authority to detain us before we reached the protest site.”