Dhangar agitation turns violent in Jalna, collector denies he kept protesters waiting

District Collector Shrikrishna Panchal, however, denied he kept them waiting for an hour. “Yesterday, I had met Dhangar community members. After our discussion it was decided that Resident Deputy Collector or Additional Collector will receive their memorandum. Today as soon as their speeches were over, the RDC and SDO both went to the gate of the collectorate to receive their memorandum.”

The Collector said there was apparently some misunderstanding among the morchaites. “I was present in office. We even allowed them to send a delegation inside. I sent a message that any number of members can come in a delegation and submit me the memorandum in my office. But they insisted that our officials should meet them at the gate and receive their memorandum. Accordingly, our senior officials went to meet them. They never said I should come down from my office and meet them. But some misunderstanding was spread that no official was ready to meet them…,” he said.

The Collector said, “There was difference of opinion among the morchaites. One section was ready to meet me in my office and another section was insisting that I should meet them at the gates.”

Panchal said the mob damaged some official and private vehicles parked at the collectorate premises. “The police are conducting the panchanama,” he said.

Panchal said after the incident, the protesters met him and submitted the memorandum. “I accepted the memorandum from them,” he added.

This is the second time the district administration in Jalna has come under fire. On September 1, scores of villagers of Antarwali-Saraati were injured in police lathicharge, for which the collectorate came under fire for not being able to handle the situation properly.