September 8, 2009
Miraj (Maharashtra): The curfew imposed from 12.30 midnight on Saturday has not yet been lifted but has been extended upto 2.00 p.m. tomorrow. Curfew at Sangli too has been extended till 10.00 a.m. tomorrow. Taking advantage of the curfew, the Police started forcing Ganesha Committees to immerse their Idols. This has created a furor among the members of Ganesha Committees. Since yesterday night from 8.30 p.m., the Police started threatening the Committees that action would be taken against them after which they began immersing the Idols. The Police threatened many Chairpersons of the Committees that they would be taken into custody. The vehicle used for carrying garbage by the Municipality was used for the purpose of immersion. Hindus opposed the Police; at some places, women stopped them. The women threatened to immolate themselves; but the Police paid no heed.
The Police who had gone to the banks of River Krushna for immersion faced severe opposition from the Hindus at Arjunwad. Therefore, more policemen had to be deployed for maintaining order. The Home Minister (State) has also been invited to bring the situation under control.
The Director General of Police, Mr. S. S. Virk has been camping in Miraj since yesterday. Many senior officers along with thousands of policemen besides the State Security Force have been deployed in Sangli and Miraj. Even then, the police have failed to bring the situation under control. A woman expressed her opinion when the curfew was relaxed for a while, saying that the common man is taken to task by the police since they are unable to control the fanatic Muslims.
The curfew imposed in Sangli and Miraj was relaxed from 10.00 a.m. to 11.30 a.m. During this 1-1/2 hours, the citizens crowded at the shops to buy essential commodities; but they found that the rates had sky-rocketed. The newspapers generally available for Rs.3/- were sold at Rs. 10-20, milk at Rs. 40-50 per litre, vegetables at Rs. 30-50 per kg and sugar for Rs. 50-80 per kg. At many places rotten vegetables were kept on sale. There were long queues to buy anything, right from petrol to the smallest item. The shopkeepers were looting the buyers by raising the prices of essetial commodities. At many places, the clinics and pharmacies were closed and people did not get medicines. There was a problem in making arrangements for cremation even in cases of death.
The insolent and inept management of the Police and Administration was experienced by even the journalists. They were asked to go to the Police Station to get their identity cards before being able to travel through town during the curfew period. From there, they were asked to go to the Administrative office. Nobody was ready to take the responsibility of issuing I-cards. As a result, many reporters could not report the news in the absence of I-cards. At many places, the Police even beat up the journalists.
A complete ‘bandh’ was observed in places like Audumbar, Kirloskarwadi, Bhilwadi, Malwadi, Dudhondi, Nagrale, Burli etc. A representation was submitted to the Tehsildar on behalf of Hindus, to arrest the perpetrators of the riots. A ‘bandh’ was observed at Khanapur, Atpadi and Vita demanding the arrest of fanatic Muslims.
At Vadange (Tal. Karveer), Shiv Sainiks held a protest meeting and performed a ‘Maha-aarati’ of Sree Ganapati near the lake. At Ichalkaranji, Hindus were enraged due to the detention of Sadguru Bal Maharaj
In Satara, workers of the party were enraged due to the arrests of MLAs Mr. Diwakar Raote of Shiv Sena and Mr. Parshuram Uparkar.
Picture of Police taking away desecrated Ganesh Idol for immersion:
Picture of Muslim youth hosting their Green flag on the top of Police van: