MUMBAI, Feb 21 (Reuters) - Police fired at thousands of
rioting farmers in western India to stop them from damaging a
dam during a protest against a water shortage, killing one of
them, authorities said on Tuesday.

About 5,000 people gathered in the remote Chargarh village
in Maharashtra state, about 650 km (400 miles) northeast of the
state capital Mumbai, on Monday evening to protest against a
shortage of water, they said.

The crowd turned violent and threatened to break down the
walls and sluice gates of a local dam.

Police said the protesters hurled stones at them and tried
to snatch away their weapons when they sought to control the
mob, forcing them to open fire.

"We tried to control them with batons and tear gas shells,
but the mob attacked us and tried to snatch our weapons. We
then opened fire in which one villager was killed," local
police chief Niket Kaushik told Reuters.

India's water usage is among the least efficient in the
world and, as a result, millions in the countryside struggle
for water even when it is not summer.

Villagers, especially in India's arid western states of
Rajasthan and Gujarat, walk for miles for a pitcher of drinking
water, and riots over water are not uncommon.