Pune firing: Where was Ajit Pawar when cops opened fire, question villagers

The deputy chief minister and Pune district guardian minister, Ajit Pawar’s brief stopover in the city on Wednesday morning to meet the villagers injured in the police firing on Tuesday has not being welcomed by aggrieved farmers and the NCP leader’s political detractors.

The villagers had participated in the protest against the closed water pipeline project bringing the Pavana dam waters to the PCMC.

The question raised by the aggrieved citizens is why he failed to rush to Pune immediately after the incident.

Pawar visited the injured villagers admitted to various hospitals in Pimpri-Chinchwad area. He arrived as early as 6 am and met the injured at Aditya Birla Hospital (Chinchwadgaon), Naimar Hospital (Talegaon Dabhade) and Lokmanya Tilak Hospital in Nigdi.

The minister, accompanied by senior officers, later left for Mumbai. Former Bharatiya Janata Party MLA, Rooplekha Dhore said, “As a guardian minister he should have immediately visited the spot on Tuesday itself. Moreover, why did he not visit those villages where the farmers have been protesting.”

According to sources in the district administration, just a handful of officials apparently knew about his Wednesday morning visit. “Some of them received calls at around 2am that Pawar would be visiting Pune,” the sources said.