Onion prices fall, farmers turn violent in Gadag

GADAG: In the wake of the sudden fall in onion prices at the Gadag APMC Yard, irked farmers set a car belonging to an onion trader on fire and hurled stones on three other vehicles and shops on Wednesday.The farmers also staged a flash protest at APMC market at Amargol and staged a rast roke on Hubli Dharwad road. The price of onion had come down from Tuesday’s price of Rs 1,000 to Rs 100 per quintal on Wednesday as more than 25,000 quintals of onion were produced in the market itself.Therefore, the huge quantity of onion caused the fall in the price and had reached Rs 100 to Rs 300 per quintal in the afternoon for good quality onions.Reports of fall in prices in Gadag market and consequantly farmers protesting in a voilant manner only added to the suspision and farmers resorted to stage at APMC administrative office in the evening hours.Anguished farmers who were expecting more than Rs 1,000 per quintal lost their patience and started arguing with traders. The traders expressed helplessness and explained that the price of onions in the Bangalore market had come down to Rs 500 and they could not give more than that price.This provoked farmers and some of them attacked the traders.The farmers vented their irk first at the shop belonging to Krishan Hanjagi, who is a leading onion trader in Gadag market and later moved on to other shops seeking good price for the onions. Anguished farmers later torched a car belonging to Krishnan Hanjagi and hurled stones at the shop of Kashinath Hanjagi who is another leading trader. Furniture in the shops were destroyed.Some labourers at the APMC yard who tried to protect the properties of the traders were also targeted by the farmers following which three labourers were seriously injured and admitted to the District Hospital.