Pellet guns used on farmers in Maha; cops among 16 hurt

Shiv Kumar

Tribune News Service

Mumbai, June 22

The Maharashtra Police today used pellet guns to fire at farmers who turned violent while protesting the construction of a boundary wall around an abandoned World War-II airport on the outskirts of Mumbai.

Hundreds of farmers have been cultivating land inside the airbase at Nevali near Kalyan on the outskirts of Mumbai. They resorted to violence this morning and torched several vehicles on the Thane-Badlapur highway, the police said. At least 12 policemen received injuries while trying to contain the violence.

With the police unable to control the crowd, the administration rushed in riot police who fired several rounds from pellet guns, similar to ones used by security forces in Kashmir, at the protesting farmers. At least four of the protesters received injuries on the upper bodies from pellets, the police said. Thane Police Commissioner Parambir Singh later told reporters that cases of rioting would be registered against the villagers who received injuries from pellet guns.

Sources said farmers who originally owned the land had cut the fencing around the property decades ago and resumed agriculture. The Maharashtra Government had considered constructing a full-fledged airport where the airstrip once stood. However, this has been opposed by farmers for years and the matter is in court.