Five farmers, including a woman, allegedly consumed poison at the district collectorate in Maharashtra’s Akola on Monday in protest against, what they called, was the delay in getting compensation for their land acquired for a highway project.
All the five people were rushed to the district civil hospital. District collector Jitendra Papalkar said, “We will inquire the matter and submit a report to the government in this regard,” he said, claiming that the condition of the farmers was stable .
The five had gone to meet additional collector Narendra Lonkar to demand speedy compensation for their land. However, when they failed to get a positive response from the senior official, they allegedly consumed pesticides in presence of several employees of the collectorate.
Meanwhile, the district Shiv Sena demanded a stern action against the revenue officials concerned alleging they offered “irrational” compensation to farmers for their land acquired for the highway project. District Sena chief Nitin Deshmukh also submitted a memorandum to the district collector in this regard.