STATE STAFF STOP WORK

A deserted government office on Thursday

Yogesh Naik, Nitin Yeshwantrao & Pradeep Gupta TNN

Mumbai: Over 15 lakh state government employees stopped work and organized morchas on Thursday to protest against the killing of additional collector Yeshwant Sonawane.

At Mantralaya, nearly 90% staff stayed off work and ministerial staff also participated in demonstrations.

G D Kulthe, general secretary, Maharashtra state gazetted officers’ federation, said there was an overwhelming response to the agitation. In the Mumbai city collectorate, officials locked up the office and protested. Unions in some government corporations did not get an intimation and could not organize a bandh. At the Mhada office in Bandra, nearly 80% employees participated in a gate meeting.

“We have not announced the protest as a strike but we are shunning work to register our protest against this gruesome act which has shaken government employees,” said Maharashtra Gazetted Officers Mahasangh president Ravindra Dhongade.

“We have asked colleagues to shun work. We are organizing morchas and rallies to protest the killing. Our colleagues will meet the district collector and regional commissioners and submit a memorandum against the incident,” he said.

GOVT BEGINS CRACKDOWN

Sanjeev Shivadekar & Yogesh Naik TNN

Mumbai: The state government has begun a crackdown on the adulteration mafia in the state, following Yeshwant Sonawane’s murder.

Chief minister Prithviraj Chavan called a meeting of officials at the state guesthouse Sahyadri on Wednesday and ordered the crackdown. On Thursday, chief secretary Ratnakar Gaikwad and director-general of police D Sivanandhan chalked out a strategy for action by the police and food and civil supplies department. The police arrested 163 people in the drive to unearth the oil mafia.

Food and civil supplies minister Anil Deshmukh parried questions on why the raids had begun only after Sonawane’s murder. He claimed action was being taken against adulteration and pilferage, and circulated figures of 2008, 2009 and 2010 on action against hoarders.

The government directed the police to see if the culprits can be booked under the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organized Crime Act (MCOCA).

In some places, adulterators fled hideouts and government sources said the action was cosmetic.

R R Patil, state home minister, said that within 48 hours of the incident, the police had arrested all accused in the case. “Despite this, if Sonawane’s family is unhappy, the department is ready to hand over the case to the Central Bureau of Investigation,” Patil said in reply to a demand from opposition parties.

Chief minister Prithviraj Chavan announced a crackdown on the oil mafia on Wednesday

BJP claims DF minister is supporting the fuel racket

Ambarish Mishra TNN

Mumbai: The Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party combined is set to launch a frontal attack on the Congress-led Democratic Front (DF) government following the killing of additional collector Yeshwant Sonawane by the oil mafia in Manmad on Tuesday. Leader of the opposition and Maharashtra BJP leader Eknath Khadse on Thursday accused a senior DF minister of supporting the oil mafia in Nashik. “The mafia runs a multi-core adulteration racket without fear of the law. This cannot happen without the blessings of those in power,” Khadse told mediapersons.

BJP leader Vinod Tawde alleged on Thursday that the mafia has paid Rs 25 crore to a DF minister to make changes in a government resolution (GR) on furnace oil. The amendment made the mafia richer by several hundred crores, Tawde added. He said he would reveal the minister’s name if chief minister Prithviraj Chavan sought details. “The opposition will start a crusade against the oil and sand mafia in Maharashtra. If the government fails to take action, opposition legislators will take the law into their own hands to end the mafia rule in the oil sector,” Tawde said.

Sena executive president Uddhav Thackeray described Sonawane’s killing as “brutal, shocking and unfortunate.” At the Mantralaya, minister for food and civil supplies Anil Deshmukh said the centre had issued an order delicensing furnance oil.


The Times of India, January 28, 2011