PUNE, 4 December 2005 — With Pune becoming the hot battlefield for the two warring sections of the Shiv Sena led by cousins Uddhav and Raj Thackeray, the political atmosphere in the city has disturbed public life and is giving the police machinery sleepless nights on the law and order front.
More than 3,000 employees of the Pune Municipal Corporation labor and engineers union, angered by the assault and violence against the employees and the officers of the corporation on Friday evening, staged a protest rally yesterday.
They submitted a memorandum to the city police commissioner demanding that the police arrest the supporters of rebel Shiv Sena leader Raj Thackeray for assaulting the officials of the corporation and recover money from them for the damage that they caused to the corporation’s property. The memorandum also demanded that the police should take strong and stern action and ensure that such incidents do not take place in future.
A PMC union leader said the officials of the PMC were acting on the basis of a decision taken by city councilors of all parties at the general body meeting of the corporation held on Nov. 30, at which it was decided to remove all hoardings in the suburbs of Yerawada, Sangamwadi, Hadapsar and Wagholi. Accordingly the officals begin removing the political hoardings of all parties on Dec. 1 and 2.
Turning their ire against the PMC for pulling down Raj Thackeray’s hoarding in Vadgaon Sheri, about 100 supporters of Raj, stormed the zonal office of the corporation in Dhole Patil road and ransacked it. The supporters also manhandled Assistant Municipal Commissioner Bhanudas Mane when he objected to their entry into his office, and in anger the supporters threw out the chairs of Mane;’ office and also damaged the office furniture.
Mane was asked as to why Raj Thackeray’s posters were removed, when banners and posters of some other political leaders were displayed in Bund Garden area. When Mane tried to explain that the PMC had no bias against any party, the supporters refused to listen and ransacked the office. The estimated damage done was to the tune of 50,000 rupees, said Mane.
City Mayor Rajni Tribhuvan who paid a visit to the zonal office to assess the extent of damage said that the office was recently renovated at a huge cost.
