Maratha reservation stir: Maharashtra bandh called off
Mumbai, July 25 (IBNS): Maratha Kranti Morcha, which was spearheading a violent agitation demanding reservation, on Wednesday called off the statewide bandh after a vast part of the city and its suburbs went into a chaos disrupting life, media reports said.
The Morcha said that they wanted Mumbaikars to return home safely.
The outfit also said that it was upset with the way the protests were handled by the state government and will decide the future course of action in a few days.
The Maratha community had declared a bandh across Maharashtra on Wednesday, 25 July demanding reservations in education and government jobs.
The protests turned violent with agitators clashing with the police and torching vehicles, prompting police to use lathi and open fire in the air.
They blocked the Mumbai-Pune highway at its entry-exit point in Kalamboli, threw stones and set a police van on fire, resulting in lathi-charge and firing in the air by police.
While shops in most areas remained shut from the morning, later in the day, there were major traffic snarls as protesters blocked busy roads and highways at several spots and reportedly threw stones at BEST buses.
Several vehicles were vandalised by the agitators in Navi Mumbai.
Several private buses are off the road due to the stir.
However, the protesters said they won't affect the train services. Schools and colleges also remained open.
The Marathas have been demanding a reservation for some time now.
The protest turned violent on Tuesday as agitators torched police vehicles and ambulances in Aurangabad.
Fueled by the loss of an agitator and the call for reservation, several protests had resorted to arson, setting alight tyres and
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