MNS to take on Lalu8217;s Chhat Puja with 8216;Hatt8217; Puja

The campaign would be aimed at migrants the MNS says encroach upon public property, set up kiosks or roadside businesses illegally, steal electricity or secure permits and licences to live and work in Mumbai and its neighbouring areas even though they may not be eligible.

Letters will be written to a range of government officials, including civic authorities and the police and traffic departments, to act against such migrants. MNS workers will pressure them regularly to show progress, according to party vice-president Haji Arafat Sheikh. Details of the campaign have already been circulated among MNS leaders and office-bearers, copies of which are with The Indian Express.

8220;We will start the campaign on Rajji8217;s birthday and ensure that by his next birthday he gets some relief from the 8216;UP-Biharwallahs8217; who have encroached and made the city unclean,8221; Sheikh says.

In his letter to MNS workers, Sheikh says: 8220;Let them perform Chhat Puja for one day, we will conduct Hatt Puja for the remaining 364 days. Through this campaign we will get justice to Maharashtra.8221;

8220;How is that 8216;outsiders8217; set up stalls, steal electricity from street poles, encroach on our roads and cause problems to honest tax-paying citizens, and yet no action is taken against them? It is because the administration is hand-in-glove with outsiders that they thrive here,8221; he says. 8220;If we start a campaign against the officials, they will be forced to take action against the encroachers.8221;

North Indian migrants performing Chhat Puja, besides celebrating Uttar Pradesh formation day, in Maharashtra has been a sore point for Raj and his MNS. The party claims such occasions are used by migrants to show their strength in their adopted land.

However, this has led Lalu to announce that he would perform Chhat Puja in November this year in Raj8217;s Shivaji Park area of Mumbai, which is also a stronghold of the Shiv Sena he walked out of. Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh has backed the RJD chief and said he too would join him in the prayers. Sheikh says the MNS has created 8220;squads8221; of workers who would be on the lookout for encroachers. 8220;Authorities will be given photographs of such illegal activities 8212; encroachments on roads, unauthorised stalls, hawkers, stealing electricity, water 8212; and complete details of the people involved. We will first request authorities to take action. However if they fail to do so in 15 days8217; time, then we will do so in our 8216;own way8217;,8221; the MNS leader adds.

Manoj Chavan, chief of the MNS Kaamgar Sena, the labour union wing, said the campaign would also target motor training schools as they are accused of securing driving licences for migrants even though they do not have the mandatory residential proof.