Stampede-like situation as potato farmers queue up for bonds in Jalpaiguri

jalpaiguri: Three police personnel along with 13 farmers were injured after farmers resorted to protest alleging anomalies in the distribution of bonds of cold storage at Mohit Nagar on the outskirts of Jalpaiguri on Friday.

The injured police personnel and farmers are undergoing treatment at Jalpaiguri super speciality hospital. However, no arrests have been made yet.

Hundreds of potato farmers crowded in front of cold storage to collect bonds to store their produce. In the rush and stampede-like situation, many farmers got trampled and were injured.

Some of the farmers had stood in the queue from Thursday night to collect the bonds. Things were going well. However, in the afternoon, several farmers who were sure of not getting the bonds pelted stones at the police injuring three police personnel. The police in return resorted to lathi-charge and used tear gas shells to bring the situation under control.

Jalpaiguri, Superintendent of Police, Biswajit Mahato, said: “The capacity of the cold storage has been exhausted. A lot of farmers did not get the bond so the violence. Three police personnel were slightly injured. The situation is normal now.”