Aurangabad/Pune: The agitation by Marathas for job quota saw one more man committing suicide and protesters resorting to violence and arson at separate places in Maharashtra on Monday.
Four police officials were injured in stone pelting, while nearly 70 vehicles, including state and civic-run buses and those of police, were damaged or torched during the violence in Chakan near Pune, a senior police officer said.
Inspector General of Police (Kolhapur Range) Vishwas Nangare Patil told PTI that 30 vehicles, mostly buses of the state transport undertaking and PMPML (Pune Mahanagar Parivahan Mahamandal Ltd), were torched by the agitators, while around 40 other vehicles, including private ones, were vandalised.
“The agitators torched vehicles of police outside the Chakan police station and pelted stone. However, police personnel dispersed the mob. “Four police officials, including a senior inspector and Deputy Superintendent of Police Ganpat Madgulkar, sustained injuries in the stone pelting,” said Patil.
In nearby Rajgurunagar town, protesters, numbering 3,000 to 4,000, gathered outside the main police station, and pelted stones, but the police force successfully dispersed them, the IGP said.
The police fired tear gas shells and resorted to lathicharge at several places to disperse the mob. Patil said since protests were simultaneously taking place at several places in Pune district, the police force had to spread out.
“We are trying to bring the situation under control,” he added. Due to the violence at Chakan, the traffic on the Pune -Nashik road was crippled. Several Nashik as well as Pune- bound buses were cancelled due to the stir, officials said. DySP Madgulkar said he was escorting a fire tender when a mob started pelting stone at the police van.
“While tackling the stone pelting mob, I received injuries in my leg,” said Madgulkar, who is undergoing treatment at the hospital. Quick Response Teams have been moved to the violence- affected area, the police said. Some Maratha organisations had given a call for a bandh today in the Chakan area and a rally was taken out.
Protesters clashed with the police in Solapur district, south-western Maharashtra, during a bandh on the issue. The Solapur bandh call was given by prominent Maratha organisations, including the Maratha Kranti Morcha and Sakal Maratha Samaj.
The police cane-charged protesters after they pelted shops and some vehicles with stones, an official said. Maratha outfits said a mega rally will be held in Mumbai on August 9 in support of their quota demand. “We will hold a mega rally in Mumbai on August 9, August Kranti Din. We want to show our strength and endurance to the government,” Maratha Kranti Morcha leader Vinod Pokharkar said.
Meanwhile, a 35-year-old man allegedly committed suicide by jumping in front of a moving train in Aurangabad in central Maharashtra over the Maratha quota demand, police said. (PTI)
