Lucknow, Nov 23 (IANS) Hundreds of farmers, protesting the alleged black marketing of fertilisers by cooperative institutions, damaged several vehicles and public property, and clashed with the police in Uttar Pradesh’s Bulandshahr district Monday, officials said.
Police used batons to disperse the crowd of angry farmers in the Nai Mandi area of Bulandshahr, some 400-km from Lucknow.

“We had to use force after the farmers turned unruly and started violent protests alleging black marketing of Di-ammonium phosphate (DAP) fertiliser,” police inspector N.K. Singh told reporters in Bulandshahr.

Even as officials said no one was seriously injured in the incident, farmers alleged nearly 15 people were injured, four of them critically, in the incident and taken to a hospital.

Farmers alleged that the cooperative outlets in most places remained closed in daytime and open in the night for black marketing and selling the fertilisers at exorbitant prices.

Additional security has been deployed in the area.