Maratha reservation supporters set municipal building on fire; Home-office of two MLAs also attacked
These days the politics of Maharashtra is hot regarding the demand for Maratha reservation.
Time to Read 3 Min
These days the politics of Maharashtra is hot regarding the demand for Maratha reservation. On Monday, community activists allegedly set fire to the residence of local NCP MLA Prakash Solanki. Police alleged that shortly after the incident, activists also set fire to and vandalized the first floor of the Majalgaon Municipal Council building in Beed district.
Maratha reservation supporters armed with wooden sticks also vandalized the office of BJP MLA Prashant Bamb in Gangapur in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar district, he said. There were no casualties in both the incidents. A senior police officer said that after setting fire to MLA Solanki's residence, a group of reservation activists went to the Majalgaon Municipal Council building on Parali Road and started vandalizing it.
This incident happened at around 1.30 pm in Majalgaon, more than four hundred kilometers from Mumbai. He said the group of activists were armed with wooden sticks and stones and damaged windows. The official said that the vandals went to the first floor of the building and set it on fire, due to which the furniture there was burnt to ashes.
He said that fire brigade personnel reached the spot and the fire was brought under control. However, there were no casualties. Police have started examining CCTV footage of the area to identify those involved in setting fire to the Municipal Council building and the process of registering a crime against them is underway, the official said.
In another incident at Gangapur in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar district, a group of Maratha quota supporters damaged window panes and furniture inside the office of BJP MLA Bamb, following which two people were detained, police said. The incidents of violence and arson have come to light at a time when the movement demanding reservation for the Maratha community is in its second phase. Reservation activist Manoj Jarange is on an indefinite fast since October 25 in Antarwali Sarti village of Jalna district.
13 MSRTC buses damaged in last 48 hours, operations stopped in 30 depots
At least 13 MSRTC buses have been damaged in the last 48 hours during the Maratha quota agitation, including four buses on Monday. An official said that due to this, the state-run Transport Corporation has decided to stop operations in 30 of its 250 depots.
Nine buses were damaged on Sunday, the thirty depots at which operations have been closed are in the Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar division of the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC), he said. All MSRTC depots except 17 depots in Beed, Dharashiv and Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar zones in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar division have been closed. MSRTC has 15,000 buses and transports around six lakh people every day on routes across the state. Protests are taking place in different parts of the state demanding reservation in jobs and education for the Maratha community.
