Maharashtra on high alert after protest for Maratha reservation

Mumbai: Maharashtra is on high alert after the Maratha groups continued their protests for the third day across several districts in the state to press for reservation to the community here on Tuesday.

Chief Minister Eknath Shinde has convened an all-party meeting to discuss and resolve the issue tomorrow in Mumbai.

In Mumbai Maratha legislators from all political parties staged a protest near the Gandhi statue outside Mantralaya in Nariman Point and demanded a special legislature session to finalise the community quotas.

A fresh incident of arson on a government office was reported from Jalna where a village panchayat office was torched by some unknown persons raising pro-quota slogans.

Scores of Maratha activists lay down on the railway tracks in Solapur and blocked the passage of at least one long-distance train even as police attempted to clear the railway lines.

A local office of the Bharatiya Janata Party was set ablaze at Naiknagar in Hingoli district, while a large number of Maratha activists got down in a stream in Pune for a ‘jal-samadhi’ protest.

Public bus services remained shut for the second day in parts of Parbhani district and in Malkapur, Buldhana district, protestors smeared black paint on posts of the CM on a vehicle.

Scores of Marathas launched relay hunger strikes at Chunabhatti in Mumbai and Mungse village in Nashik district demanding immediate announcement of quotas.

Schools and colleges remained shut today in Shevgaon, Ahmednagar district and students participated in the protests. (UNI)