3 Tenant Farmers Consume Poison In Police Station As Cops Foil Their Chalo Assembly Protest

The Chalo Assembly rally taken out by the tenant farmers in Vijaywada led to tension as three farmers consumed poison inside Nunna police station, 10 km from Vijayawada. The farmers have been shifted to Vijayawada Government Hospital, where the condition of one of the farmers is stated to be critical.

As many as 216 tenant farmers of Kolimella village have been demanding compensation for their crop loss and the implementation of a government report which recommended compensation to the them as they had lost their crop due to spurious seeds. The farmers have been agitating for the past two years and have taken up several dharnas to highlight their demand.

On Wednesday, the farmers tried to take a rally from Prakasam Barrage to Velagapudi as part of their Chalo Assembly programme. The police arrested them and took them to police station. Three farmers, identified as Jamalaiah, Purnaiah and Tirupati Rao, consumed poison in disgust. They are under treatment in the Government hospital.

Leaders of various political parties and civic society organisations rushed to the hospital to console the farmers and their kin. They demanded that the Government pay compensation to the affected farmers. YSRCP leader Malladi Vishnu said the Government should immediately solve the problems of the farmers. The government has deliberately delayed action in this issue. He demanded a comprehensive probe into the incident. CPM leader Babu Rao charged the TDP Government with colluding with the seed companies and duping the farmers. Congress leader Sunkara Dharma Sri demanded compensation to the affected farmers.