Maratha community to take out silent march in Pune on Sunday

Pune, Sep 24: After holding protests in various districts of Maharashtra, members of the Maratha community will organise a silent march here tomorrow to press for their demands.

The protest is scheduled to begin in the morning and is likely to go on till late afternoon. The organisers say they expect around 10-15 lakh people to turn up.

"The march will start from Deccan Gymkhana and will traverse through Alka Talkies chowk, Laxmi Road, Nana Peth, and will end at the Council Hall," one of the organisers said.

Under the banner of 'Maratha Kranti Morcha', the community has so far held rallies in various cities in Maharastra, including Akola, Jalna, Latur, Nanded, Nashik, Osmanabad, Ahmednagar and Navi Mumbai.

Each protest has drawn huge crowd from the community. The Maratha community, which forms nearly one third of the state population, launched these protests following the rape and murder of a Maratha girl at Kopardi village in Ahmednagar.

These marches are aimed at pressing for the community's demands, including justice to the victim, reservation for Maratha community in education and government jobs and scrapping of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

Meanwhile, in view of the huge crowd that is likely to gather for the morcha, Pune traffic police have requested citizens to avoid commute in the city till it gets over.

"Citizens are advised to avoid travelling till the march ends and people going to airport, railway station, bus stands for scheduled journey should especially make a note of it," said DCP Traffic Dr Pravin Mundhe.

PTI