State needs full-time home minister: Uddhav Thackeray

Making it clear that although chief minister Devendra Fadnavis was a good person, Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray on Wednesday said that the state needed a full-time home minister since Fadnavis was already burdened with many responsibilities.

Thackeray on Wednesday called on Fadnavis at his Varsha bungalow the official residence to air the issues of housing and other problems faced by policemen. He was accompanied by the family members of policemen. He raised the issue of attack on the police sub-inspector and an attempt to drown him during immersion procession in Kalyan by seeking strong action against those involved in the incident.

He noted that the attacks on policemen had increased in the preceding days, for which their families were worried. "Some thought must be given to where we are heading as a society if the police are unsafe," said Uddhav, stressing that policemen needed to be safe and those who attacked them needed to be punished. 

Thackeray said that it was decided to form a committee consisting of elected representatives, senior officials and families of policemen to look into issues of police personnel and their families. Thackeray said that the attacks on police officers have to be dealt with stringently. Thackeray told that housing issues, jobs on compassionate ground and treatment in good hospitals for injured policemen on-duty were raised by the family members.