Stampede at soy procurement centre in Nirmal injures 10 women

Ten women were injured, including two who sustained leg fractures, in a stampede during token distribution for soybean procurement at a PACS in Nirmal’s Kubheer mandal. Farmers blamed officials for poor crowd management and lack of safety arrangements.

Nirmal: Ten women were injured, including two who suffered leg fractures, in a stampede that occurred during the distribution of tokens for soybean procurement at the Primary Agriculture Cooperative Society in Kubheer mandal on Saturday, exposing the apathy of officials in making elaborate arrangements for the process.

According to villagers, two elderly women sustained fractures, while eight others suffered minor injuries when the crowd surged forward as tokens were being issued. The injured persons were shifted to hospital. They were Lakshmibai from Pardi (K) and Battini Chandrakala of Kubheer mandal headquarters.

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Since 2 am, around 2,000 farmers from several parts of this mandal, including men and women, had formed long queues to sell their soybean produce at the centre. The situation turned chaotic as they jostled for tokens, leading to the stampede in the afternoon. A few policemen who were present at the centre could not control the farmers.

The farmers expressed anger over the lack of crowd management and accused officials of negligence. They said no barricades or precautionary measures were in place to control the rush. Alleging poor planning, they pointed out that multiple counters were not set up for distributing the tokens.

The farmers wanted the government to set up procurement centres in Kubheer, Malegaon, Palsi and Chata villages to handle the crowd. They opined that the tokens could be issued from Rythu Vedikas established by the previous BRS government to avoid inconvenience to the farmers.

Meanwhile, officials said the tokens were issued to streamline the sale process and reduce waiting time. Steps would be taken to prevent such incidents in future, they said.

Soy crop was cultivated in 32,000 acres across Kubheer mandal, the largest mandal in the district.