Protests in Tumkur turn violent, police van set on fire

The on-going protests over the construction of a waste disposal unit in the industrial city Tumkur turned violent on Saturday, when the angry villagers set a police van on fire and pelted stones at the policemen.

As per reports, six people got injured in the ugly clash between the policemen and the agitators.

The protests turned violent following the death of Shivakumar, 31, a resident of the village who worked at the Tumkur University.

Reportedly, Shivakumar had committed suicide and his body was found on the railway track between Hirenhalli and Kyatsandra in the wee hours on Saturday.

The villagers, who were already protesting the setting up of a waste disposal unit in Ajjagondanahalli, blamed the administration for Shivakumar's death.

The villagers had planned to stage a protest outside the office of the CMC and DC. But, when they failed to do so, they carried out protests outside the government hospital where Shivakumar's body was taken for postmortem.

Later, when the policemen arrived at Kattigenahalli with Shivakumar's body, the villagers threw chili powder on them and pelted stones at them. They even set the police van on fire.

Police Inspectors Abdul Khader and Ravi, two constables,  village residents Shankaraiah and Chandrashekaraiah got injured in the clash.

Tahsildar Maruthi Prasanna, as quoted in The Hindu, said, “it was a pre-planned attack on the police by the village residents. They had switched off the lights in the whole village, threw chilli powder and hurled stones at police personnel and beat them up with sticks.”

Tumkur DC K.S Satyamurthy stated that the construction of the waste disposal unit is not going to be shelved.

The villagers should stop their violent protests regarding the same, he added.
He also stated that the government is ready to offer a compensation to the victim's family.

Around 200 policemen and 2 KSRP platoons have been deployed at Kattigenahalli.

The Tumkur district covers an area of 10,598 km² and has a population of 3.3 lakhs. With the Municipal Council having no place to dump the garbage generated in the district, the roads are seen overflowing with garbage.