The Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) Vahtuk Sena on Monday took up the dabbawalas issue and sent notices to all the schools that have stopped dabbawalas from entering their premises. The notice sent to various schools across the city has asked the schools to stop being partial to the dabbawalas who the party claims to be Marathi manoos. The dabbawalas have been delivering tiffins to the school children for the past three generations. Banning them from entering the school premises has resulted in them losing jobs. We treat this as sons-of-the-soil issue and ask them to stop playing with the lives of Marathi manoos, said Khalid Sharif Delhiwala,president,Pune city district,MNS Vahtuk Sena. Over 160 dabbawalas in the city,who have been delivering tiffins to schoolchildren across the city,were stopped from entering schools citing security reasons. The party apparently has also agreed to provide metal detectors to all the schools that have taken such a step on the basis of security concerns. We do not mind issuing identity cards to these dabbawalas and take the responsibility of their clean characters, added Delhiwala. Vijay Rajput,vice president,Pune city,MNS said,We have issued notices to some of the schools and will continue approaching the schools in a peaceful manner for the next two days post which we will solve the matter in MNS style. Rajesh Mankar,one of the dabbawalas said,We are hopeful that we get back our sole source of income. Even the parents are with us.
