RAF deployed in violence-hit Mandsaur in Madhya Pradesh

Two companies of RAF, comprising around 100 men each, have moved into Pipliamandi in Mandsaur, the site of Tuesday's shooting of five farmers, police said.

While two companies of RAF have been posted in Garoth area in the district, another two have been deployed along the Mwoh-Neemuch Highway to prevent any untoward incidents, they said.

The situation is tense but under control, police said.

DIG Ratlam range Avinash Sharma is camping in Pipliamandi where farmers, agitating for the last seven days for loan waiver and better crop prices, defied prohibitory orders yesterday, beat up officials and policemen and resorted to violence and arson.

Senior police officials have also been deployed to oversee the law and order situation in all sub-divisions of Mandsaur district, the official said.

Farmers had yesterday resorted to violence and arson in western Madhya Pradesh despite prohibitory measures, posing a major challenge for Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and providing a rallying point for the opposition parties.

In view of the volatile situation, the Centre had rushed 1,100 personnel of RAF to the violence-hit state where the farmers have been agitating for loan waiver and better crop prices.

The Chouhan government had sought to cool the tempers by announcing certain measures, including a loan settlement scheme for those cultivators who had defaulted on repayment of farm loan borrowed by them earlier.

The scheme will cover around six lakh farmers, with accumulated dues of Rs 6000 crore, according to the government.