Shivraj Singh Chouhan visits Mandsaur, gives Rs 1 cr cheque to kin of deceased farmer

MANDSAUR: Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan today visited Mandsaur, where five cultivators were killed during the farmers' stir, and handed over a cheque of Rs 1 crore to the family of one of them.

The state government yesterday sanctioned financial aid of Rs 1 crore each to the families of the six farmers killed during the violent stir by peasants in Mandsaur.

The aid was sanctioned from the chief minister's discretionary fund and it would be given by the Mandsaur collector through e-payment facility, a public relations official earlier said.

On June 6, five farmers were killed as the agitation by peasants turned violent in Mandsaur.

Besides, a 26-year-old farmer had died in Badwan village of Mandsaur district. Locals on June 9 had alleged that he was beaten up by policemen.

Chouhan along with his wife Sadhna reached Mandsaur in a special plane and went to Badwan village to meet the kin of farmer Ghanshyam Dhakad, who was killed in police firing.

The chief minister handed a cheque of Rs 1 crore as compensation to the kin of Dhakad, as promised.

He also assured the family members that strict action will be taken against those who shot dead the farmers.

Chouhan is also scheduled to visit Lodh, Nayakheda, Piplyamandi, Barkheda Panth and Budha villages to extend condolences to the kin of the other farmers killed in police firing.

The district administration made elaborate security arrangements for Chouhan's visit.

Five helipads were made at various places to ensure that the chief minister reaches the venue without any trouble, a senior official said.

Congress has also made arrangements at Dusshera maidan in Bhopal for senior party leader Jyotiraditya Scindia's 'satyagraha' on the issue of farmers' deaths in police firing.

The protest will begin around 2 pm, a Congress spokesman said.

Earlier, Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi and Scindia had also tried to visit Mandsaur but they were denied permission.

Political leaders and social activists have continued to make futile attempts to visit Mandsaur despite peace having returned there.

Chouhan, who came under severe attack from the opposition following the agrarian unrest, had called off the indefinite fast on Sunday, 28 hours after its launch, claiming peace had been restored.

Though the stir has ebbed away, three farmers have ended their lives in the state in the last 24 hours, taking the number of farmer suicides in the state in the past one week to five.