Violence during Pune farmers' stir pre-planed: Chavan

Talking to newsmen at the end of the monsoon session, Chavan said there was a precedent, for, in a similar incident in Pune recently, certain elements had tried to ensure that a protest went out of control.

In a veiled reference to the shifting of Dadoji Konddeo statue in Pune and Shiv Sena's bandh to protest against the shifting, Chavan said, "Certain elements work overtime to ensure that a protest turns violent and situation goes out of hand. This was seen when a certain statue was shifted to a different place and how tapped phone conversation of few persons showed that they wanted to create a situation of riot. The case is now being tried in court."

Defending his deputy Ajit Pawar against the opposition charge that they suspected the local Superintendent of Police Sandeep Karnik had consulted Pawar before ordering firing, Chavan said, "People should refrain from levelling baseless charges."

Pawar who was present at the press conference intervened to say that the judicial probe would reveal the truth. "We all want to know who is behind the violence. I called up Karnik when the Leader of Opposition in the assembly Eknath Khadse said in the house that two persons were killed in the firing. Even though adequate bandobast was maintained for the demonstration, nobody imagined that the situation would go out of control," he said. 

Pawar said the piped water supply scheme to Pimpri-Chinchwad was a Jawaharlal Nehru Renewal Urban Mission project. "There is no question of injustice to the farmers. Instead, due to the closed pipe water supply project, water from the Pavana dam could be saved," he said.

 According to him, the district collector had called a meeting to discuss the issue on August 8. However, farmers did not turn up for the meeting.

 Meanwhile, the government has announced that the next of kin of the dead in police firing would be given jobs in the Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation and the financial assistance would be given as per rules.

When asked why the opposition was targeting him, Pawar said, "To know about this, you should have gone to Rambhau Mhalgi Prabodini," where a meeting of the state BJP was held recently and where party leader Gopinath Munde had attacked Ajit Pawar.