Raipur, Nov 9 (IANS) The situation in Chhattisgarh’s Dhamtari district was tense after a protest of farmers turned violent and they set fire to vehicles and ransacked shops, police said.
Dozens of farmers blocked the national highway connecting state capital Raipur to Jagdalpur, the Bastar region headquarters. They were demanding a bonus of Rs.270 per quintal on sale of paddy to the government as announced by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the run-up to the assembly polls last year.

“The protest turned violent and the farmers set on fire seven police vehicles,” police officers said.

According to police, Dhamtari town, some 80 km from here, was tense after farmers refused to clear the highway blockade till late Monday evening and also ransacked a few shops and damaged a private roadways bus.

Farmers were reported to have held protests at several other places in the state but barring Dhamtari reports of any violence were not received from any other place.

Farmers have announced that they would step up their movement against the state’s BJP government since it had backtracked on its poll promise.

State government has been procuring paddy at 1,577 centres across the state from about one million farmers since Oct 12 at Rs.950 per quintal for common grade paddy and Rs.980 for grade-A quality paddy. They have been paying a bonus Rs.50 per quintal.