Four people, including a woman, died on Tuesday when policeopened fire on a farmers' demonstration protesting against a dam water pipeline project at Maval on the Mumbai-Pune expressway. Traffic on the expressway was paralysed for several hours with police claiming it had normalised after the detention of 300 people.
The farmers were protesting against the closed water pipeline project conceived to supply water to the neighbouring industrial town of Pimpri Chinchwad from the Pavna dam.
A farmers' spokesman said the project would deprive local farmers of their land and hit drinking water supply in the region.
The police said about 400 people had blocked the busy expressway and had refused to disperse despite being requested. The protesters attacked policemen following which teargas and rubber bullet rounds didn't dissuade protesters, leading the police to order fire as a last resort.
About 25 policemen received injuries in stone-pelting by the mob and the condition of an inspector was serious, police added.
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