Congress workers, farmers stage protest over fertiliser shortage in Mauganj; over 500 detained

More than 500 Congress workers and farmers staged a protest in Madhya Pradesh's Mauganj on Sunday, alleging fertiliser shortage and other issues, breaching a barricade erected by the police to prevent them from meeting Chief Minister Mohan Yadav.

Protesters in vehicles led by former Congress MLA Sukhendra Singh Bana clashed with the police, climbing over barricades to reach the chief minister, who was at a function in the Deotalab area 16 km away.

The police erected barricades at the Bahuti bypass near Mauganj police station, and the protesters were not allowed to move ahead.

"We detained more than 500 protesters for a while, and freed them after the chief minister's function got over. The situation is peaceful," Mauganj additional superintendent of police Vikram Singh told PTI.

During the protest, former MLA Singh Bana alleged that they were raising serious issues affecting farmers and poor people.

He claimed that farmers were not getting fertilisers and were being unduly harassed and lathi-charged.

A few days ago, the police had lathi-charged farmers protesting the unavailability of fertilisers at a government distribution centre in Rewa.

In a press conference on Saturday, when former CM and Union Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan was asked about frequent protests by farmers in the state, he said fertilisers were available in sufficient quality, but the distribution network needed to be pruned. PTI