Tension prevailed at some places in Haveri district on Tuesday, due to protests and stampede during distribution of Bt cotton seeds. Farmers break barricades in a bid to collect seeds from an outlet of Bt cotton seeds company in Haveri district on Tuesday. DH PhotoThe increase in demand for the ‘Kanaka’ variety of seeds and shortage of supply led to the rush. In Haveri city, police resorted to mild lathicharge as around 12,000 farmers fell over each other to collect the seeds. A company outlet had as many as 3,181 packets for distribution. Farmers broke the barricades put up by the police and rushed to get the seed packets. Several farmers and police personnel - including Deputy Superintendent of Police, L S Singada - fell on the barbed wires and sustained minor injuries. Four farmers, who were caught in the stampede and complained of suffocation, have been admitted to the district hospital. Nearly 28,000 packets of ‘kanaka seeds are required in the district, while only 18,051 were supplied, leading to the rush. Distribution of seeds was stopped midway by the company outlets in Savanur and Byadagi taluks of the district, due to the chaos. In Shiggaon, the distribution had to be cancelled as farmers pushed around each other, even before the process could begin. Distribution of seeds was undertaken amid police security in several other towns of Haveri district. BT cotton is likely to be grown on more than 1,07,400 hectares in the district, thus pushing up the demand. The Agriculture department had opened outlets in the APMC yards of the taluk headquarters and the farmers were standing in queues since Monday night to get the seeds. In Ranebennur, Hanagal and Hirekerur taluks, the distribution went off peacefully.In Kottur near Mangalore, over 5,000 farmers had come to procure the cotton seeds, while only 1,400 packets were supplied. However, due to the police security and proper planning, the distribution was peaceful. ‘Politically motivated’ Agriculture Minister Umesh Katti termed the incident in Haveri ‘politically motivated’.He wondered whether the demand for Bt cotton seeds could go up overnight in Haveri which has received no rain in the past eight to ten days. The minister held an emergency meeting with the officials of the department to review the stock position of seeds and fertilisers after the Haveri incident in the morning. Replying to a query by the mediapersons in Bangalore, Katti said: “When Bt cotton seeds were introduced, Haveri farmers protested against the variety. They removed the fully grown Bt cotton plants in protest. But today, there is high demand for Bt cotton, that too, for Kanaka variety.” He denied that there was shortage of seeds, stating that in Haveri alone, 30,000 packets were available for sale. Katti said there is sufficient stock of Bt cotton seeds and there is no need for farmers to panic. Six lakh to seven lakh bags (each of 1 kg) are already in stock and another 38 lakh bags are expected to be supplied soon. He said the government should not be blamed as the seeds are supplied by the private companies and the rush was for one particular variety, leading to crisis. The minister claimed that there was no lathicharge, but three to four farmers were injured. The minister said the first two districts in the State to get rain are Mysore and Chamarajnagar. In both the districts, sowing of cotton is going on without any problem. But it is surprising that only Haveri faces shortage of fertilisers and seeds, he said.