Strike blocks old Pune-Mumbai highway for three hrs

The old Pune-Mumbai highway was blocked for nearly three hours at Talegaon Phata on Monday after thousands of workers of ‘Me Wadar Maharashtracha’ movement staged a dharna demanding government reservation on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway.

Around 1,000 members of Wadar community under the leadership of Vijay Chougule of ‘Me Wadar Maharashtracha’ have launched a statewide rally to press their various demands, including reservation for their community in government quota under the Scheduled Castes (SC) category.

They had planned to carry out a protest padyatra from Pune to Mumbai.

The community began their rally from Pune Collectorate on Saturday morning and reached Talegaon on Sunday evening.

However, seeing the huge number of protesters who began gathering on the expressway at around 11 am on Monday, the police tried to stop them and did not give permission to proceed further.

The angry members of Wadar community blocked the old highway at Talegaon Phata and the traffic was disrupted for three hours.

Following the regional officer Sanjay Deshmukh’s assurance that the state government would meet their representatives on March 26, the protestors withdrew their agitation.