Devendra Fadnavis condemns protests against Sharad Pawar's residence, calls it 'intel failure'
09 Apr 2022 15:51:24
Mumbai, April 8: Condemning the protest held by a group of MSRTC workers outside NCP chief Sharad Pawar’s residence in Mumbai, senior BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis on Saturday, said it was a 'big failure' of the police department and intelligence agencies, which he said should be investigated.
The MSRTC has a fleet of around 16,000 buses and it was ferrying nearly 65 lakh passengers every day before the Covid-19 pandemic. Since 27 October 2021, thousands of employees of the MSRTC have been on strike seeking the merger of the corporation with the Maharashtra govt.
The Mumbai Police arrested 103 persons for rioting, unlawful assembly, assault and criminal conspiracy. On Saturday, the MSRTC employees agitating at Azad Maidan were removed from the site and 7 more individuals were arrested in this case.
He demanded a thorough probe in the matter, he also urged the state govt to address the issues of the MSRTC. Earlier in the day, Maharashtra Deputy CM Ajit Pawar announced that a senior police officer will probe the incident.
"What was the police doing? People are going to the residence of such big leaders after planning and the police don't know about this! This is a big failure of the police and this should be probed. How can there be such a huge failure of police and intelligence? If cameramen can reach there, but police reach there late. The visuals were scary, so this must be investigated," said Fadnavis.
The MSRTC has a fleet of around 16,000 buses and it was ferrying nearly 65 lakh passengers every day before the Covid-19 pandemic. Since 27 October 2021, thousands of employees of the MSRTC have been on strike seeking the merger of the corporation with the Maharashtra govt.
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This demand is aimed at ensuring that they would get benefits on par with the govt employees. On Friday evening, a group of striking employees staged a sudden and fierce protest outside Pawar's 'Silver Oak' residence when he was not at home.
The Mumbai Police arrested 103 persons for rioting, unlawful assembly, assault and criminal conspiracy. On Saturday, the MSRTC employees agitating at Azad Maidan were removed from the site and 7 more individuals were arrested in this case.