As Jarange rally heads towards Mumbai, govt says will meet all his demands
“The Government will meet all his demands. A delegation will meet him to convey the government's message that all his demands have been accepted,” Mangesh Chivate, Officer on Special Duty in Chief Minister's Office, told The Indian Express Thursday evening.
A delegation of government officials had met Jarange Patil and conveyed a message from the chief minister. (File)
Even as Maratha reservation morcha led by activist Manoj Jarange Patil headed for Mumbai from Lonavala Thursday evening, the state government said it will meet all the demands put forth by the activist so that he does not have to enter the metropolis to launch his hunger strike.
“The Government will meet all his demands. A delegation will meet him to convey the government’s message that all his demands have been accepted,” Mangesh Chivate, Officer on Special Duty in Chief Minister’s Office, told The Indian Express Thursday evening.
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Chivate said that a copy of the government resolution (GR) which will contain his demands as well will be handed over to him somewhere before Navi Mumbai where he is expected to reach past midnight and then land in Mumbai during afternoon to launch his hunger strike.
“Government officials will meet Jarange Patil before he heads for Mumbai. We will hand over a copy of the GR to him,” Chivate said.
Asked whether Chief Minister Eknath Shinde will meet the activist, Chivate said that will not be required as the government officials will meet him and tell him about the acceptance of all his demands.
One of the main demands of Jarange Patil includes issuing caste certificates to all 54 lakh citizens whose Kunbi records have been found. “This is among the other demands which have been accepted,” Chivate said.
On the other hand, Jarange Patil insisted that he will not meet any officials. He said he was ready to hold a discussion only with the Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Ministers Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar.
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“I am ready to hold discussions with Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and two deputy chief ministers…They should come and meet me,” Jarange Patil told reporters after reaching Lonavala along with hundreds of Maratha community members.
A delegation of government officials had met Jarange Patil and conveyed a message from the chief minister.“I held discussions with officials. I put forth my demands. The officials said they will speak to the chief minister. If every time, they want to say the same thing, then why is the chief minister himself not talking to me? He should come and meet me… I am ready to hold discussions with them,” Jarange Patil said.
The activist, however, said there will be no closed-door talks. “The discussions should be held in full public view,” he said. “We are interested in the resolution of our problems. We do not want to go on and on. It is very cold. Everyone has to suffer. The government should meet our demands, then we will take a call about our hunger strike. Let them first hold discussions,” he said.
“I will begin my fast at Azad Maidan and not in Navi Mumbai as is being suggested. We have come prepared to stay put in Mumbai for a longer period. The fast will be held only at Azad Maidan. I do not know whether permission has been given or not,” Jarange Patil said earlier in the day.
Manoj More has been working with the Indian Express since 1992. For the first 16 years, he worked on the desk, edited stories, made pages, wrote special stories and handled The Indian Express edition. In 31 years of his career, he has regularly written stories on a range of topics, primarily on civic issues like state of roads, choked drains, garbage problems, inadequate transport facilities and the like. He has also written aggressively on local gondaism. He has primarily written civic stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad, Khadki, Maval and some parts of Pune. He has also covered stories from Kolhapur, Satara, Solapur, Sangli, Ahmednagar and Latur. He has had maximum impact stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad industrial city which he has covered extensively for the last three decades.
Manoj More has written over 20,000 stories. 10,000 of which are byline stories. Most of the stories pertain to civic issues and political ones. The biggest achievement of his career is getting a nearly two kilometre road done on Pune-Mumbai highway in Khadki in 2006. He wrote stories on the state of roads since 1997. In 10 years, nearly 200 two-wheeler riders had died in accidents due to the pathetic state of the road. The local cantonment board could not get the road redone as it lacked funds. The then PMC commissioner Pravin Pardeshi took the initiative, went out of his way and made the Khadki road by spending Rs 23 crore from JNNURM Funds. In the next 10 years after the road was made by the PMC, less than 10 citizens had died, effectively saving more than 100 lives.
Manoj More's campaign against tree cutting on Pune-Mumbai highway in 1999 and Pune-Nashik highway in 2004 saved 2000 trees.
During Covid, over 50 doctors were asked to pay Rs 30 lakh each for getting a job with PCMC. The PCMC administration alerted Manoj More who did a story on the subject, asking then corporators how much money they demanded....The story worked as doctors got the job without paying a single paisa.
Manoj More has also covered the "Latur drought" situation in 2015 when a "Latur water train" created quite a buzz in Maharashtra. He also covered the Malin tragedy where over 150 villagers had died.
Manoj More is on Facebook with 4.9k followers (Manoj More), on twitter manojmore91982 ... Read More
