Maratha leader Manoj Jarange-Patil, who has been on a hunger strike in Antarwali Sarathe village, Jalna district since August 29, said he has given a deadline of four days and if the government did not fulfil his demand, he would harden his hunger strike and would not take medicine and liquid.
Patil has been protesting for the Maratha reservation which was held by the Supreme Court. He appealed to the government to bring an ordinance to override the SC order.
Meanwhile, a Maharashtra government delegation met Patil seeking some time to meet his demand. Girish Mahajan, Sandipan Bhumre, Atul Save and Rajesh Tope of Sharad Pawar faction were the members of the delegation.
"The government has held a detailed meeting on this issue. We have to give Maratha a reservation report within a month. The CM was very angry on the delaying officers. If the reservation is given after doing incomplete work then the reservation will fall again in the court. We have consulted legal experts. The process takes time. It will take a month but it can happen early also. For the first time the government is so positive on this issue," the delegation said.
'Will stop supply of water': Patil gives ultimatum
Earlier on Monday, Patil, who is at the helm of the reservation protests, gave an ultimatum to the Eknath Shinde government over his demand. The government should issue an ordinance for reservation for the Maratha community, otherwise, we will stop drinking water supply from tomorrow, Patil asserted.
Next time if any representative from the government comes to meet us, he should bring a copy of the ordinance with him, Patil demanded.
46 MSRTC bus depots shut
At least 46 out of 250 bus depots of the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation have been completely shut due to protests over reservation for the Maratha community, and the MSRTC has suffered losses worth Rs 13.25 crore over the last few days, an official said.
Bus operations in Ahmednagar, Aurangabad, Parbhani, Hingoli, Jalna, Nanded and Dharashiv districts have been badly hit by the protests, a spokesperson of the MSRTC told PTI on Monday.
As many as 20 buses were torched and 19 were damaged amid the protests over the last few days, he said.
The MSRTC has suffered losses to the tune of Rs 5.25 crore due to damages to the buses and lost Rs 8 crore in ticket sales due to protests in various parts of the state, the official said.
The MSRTC is one of the biggest public transport bodies in the country, with more than 15,000 buses in its fleet.
It ferries around 60 lakh passengers every day.
