Organisers of the Maratha quota bandh have decided to exclude four cities – Mumbai, Thane, Navi Mumbai and Parli – from the protest planned on Thursday, the Maharashtra Times reported. Only sit-in protests will be held in these cities.
A symbolic, peaceful protest will be held outside the collectorate office in Bandra on Thursday. “It will be a peaceful protest where thousands of people will gather and submit a charter of demands to the collector,” Mumbai coordinator Nanasaheb Kute Patil said.
Adequate police personnel have been deployment to ensure a peaceful bandh, ANI quoted Mumbai Police Public Relations Officer Manjunath Shinghe as saying.
While organisers in Maharashtra’s Beed district have decided to pull out of the protest citing Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis’ promises, organisers from other districts of Maharashtra have decided to go ahead with the bandh, seeking a time-bound plan for quotas.
“The community will go ahead with the agitation on August 9,” Sanjiv Bhor Patil, state coordinator from Ahmednagar said. “Marathas and their families will come out on the roads demanding reservations.”
Advocate Santosh Suryarao, convenor for Thane district, said they did not accept the Chief Minister’s assurances of implementing reservations by November as the government has only given statements but done nothing so far.
“Why is the youth of our community out on the streets? We are frankly frustrated by the statements made by the Chief Minister of Maharashtra,” he said.
The organisers in Beed withdrew following Fadnavis’ televised address on Sunday, when he claimed all constitutional obligations in connection with granting reservations will be completed by November.
“The state has accepted our demand that the recruitment drive be stayed,” said Abasaheb Patil, the state coordinator of the bandh from Beed district, according to the Hindustan Times. “The chief minister has also set a deadline to complete the procedures.”
Schools and colleges shut in Pune
In an order issued on Wednesday, Pune Collector Naval Kishore Ram said schools and colleges in the district would remain closed on Thursday. “Even if there is no untoward incident during the protest, roads might be blocked and we do not want students to be inconvenienced and parents to be anxious unnecessarily,” Ram told PTI.
Most of the commercial units in the Chakan industrial area are also expected to be shut down. “There are over 1,000 companies in the Chakan MIDC area and a majority of them have decided to keep their plants and firms shut tomorrow,” said Senior Inspector Santosh Girigosavi.
The Maratha Kranti Morcha have promised to not block roads and only hold a sit-in protest at one place in the town, the police officer added. Three companies of the State Reserve Police Force and a team of the Rapid Action Force will also be deployed in sensitive areas.
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