Maharashtra: 44-year-old farmer ends life during protest over dam in Amravati

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A 44-year-old farmer reportedly ended his life at the site of a protest, being held in connection with a dam, in Maharashtra's Amravati district on Saturday, a police official said, reported the PTI.

Superintendent of Police Vishal Anand told PTI that a group of farmers, apparently affected by the Upper Wardha dam, are staging an agitation at Morshi in the district over compensation.

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The dam is located about 50 km from the district headquarters.

According to the PTI, one of the protesting farmers hanged himself at the stage erected for the protest in the early hours of Saturday, said Anand.

After the farmer's suicide, the protesters blocked vehicular movement in the area, an official said.

In August 2023, a group of protesters had climbed onto the safety net set up on the first floor of Mantralaya in Mumbai demanding proper compensation for their land acquired for the Upper Wardha dam project, according to the news agency.

The protesters from Morshi were demanding four acres of farmland for each villager whose land was acquired for the dam project and government jobs for the project-affected people, an official had said, as per the PTI.

Meanwhile, Maratha quota activist Manoj Jarange Patil, who began his hunger strike on Friday, declared that the protest is now over stating that the Maharashtra government has "accepted our request".

Speaking to the media, according to an ANI report, Manoj Jarange Patil said, "Chief Minister Eknath Shinde has done a good job. Our protest is now over. Our request has been accepted. We will accept the letter from him."

Jarange Patil had already warned the state government that if their demands, which included a government resolution on Maratha quotas and the dismissal of police cases, were not met, they would march to Mumbai on Saturday.

He, according to the PTI report, had said, "I am taking a step backwards. If an ordinance (to meet his slew of demands) is not promulgated, I will come to Mumbai." "Once I set out, there will be no turning back," the activist had warned.

Maharashtra Minister Mangal Prabhat Lodha emphasised that the recently passed ordinance resolves all issues, reducing the necessity for continued protests. He said that CM Eknath Shinde would end Patil's fast with juice, signalling the end of the movement.

(with PTI inputs)