Workers of the Raj Thackeray-led party came armed with shovels and other required equipment, and dug up part of the pavement and road shoulder outside the building complex.
Anger over pockmarked roads reached the doorsteps of power and the administrative headquarters, quite literally on Tuesday. Workers from Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) broke sections of the road outside Mantralaya in the wee hours of Tuesday to protest potholed roads. On Monday, MNS had vandalised a PWD office over the same issue.
Workers of the Raj Thackeray-led party came armed with shovels and other required equipment, and dug up part of the pavement and road shoulder outside the building complex. Eight of them were subsequently arrested by Marine Drive police.
Six others, including a district president of the party, who allegedly orchestrated the entire incident, are wanted in the case.
"If our workers have been arrested (for destroying roads), what about them (civic officials)?" questioned MNS general secretary and spokesperson Sandeep Deshpande, adding authorities must be held responsible for allowing potholes to come up on roads under their watch.
During his tenure as a BMC corporator, Deshpande and his party colleague in the civic house Santosh Dhuri had forced a road contractor to perform sit-ups as punishment for potholes. Last week, MNS functionary Akhil Chitre similarly "punished" a road contractor's in-charge for a shoddy job at Santacruz.
Those arrested have been identified as Nilesh Rane, Rupesh Ovalkar, Siddhesh Neman, Sandip Shevale, Sandeep Salunkhe, Vitthal Salunkhe, Swapnil Sawant, and Prashant Indukane.
"A police officer and constable, who were on duty in an assault van, spotted the ruckus and ran towards the miscreants to stop them," said an officer from Marine Drive Police Station, adding, "They also alerted control room and a patrol van, which was near Air India building, immediately rushed to the spot and apprehended eight persons, while six managed to flee."
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