Farmers clash with foresters, 3 women injured

RAJKOT: Three women were injured after a group of farmers clashed with forest officials in Paldi village in Veraval on Wednesday.
The forest department team along with local police had gone to the village for clearing encroachment on forest land. However, the farmers, mostly dalits, said they had been cultivating the land for the last 15 years and the government must consider their applications under Forest Dwellers Act.
However, the altercation turned ugly and the women were injured allegedly in lathi-charge. The injured women were identified as Kanta Makwana, Manju Makwana and Ranjan Makwana.
"We have been cultivating the land here for the last 15 years. But forest department said we have encroached the land. They have destroyed our crops in the field. We have also written to government to consider us as traditional dwellers,'' a dalit farmer from Paldi village Kanti Rathod said.