Wife of man killed by sand mafia awaits help

As she participated in a march to protest the killing of additional collector Yashwant Sonawane by oil adulteration mafia near Manmad on Tuesday, Aafia Sayyad could not help but go back to the horrifying events of February 8, 2009.

As she participated in a march to protest the killing of additional collector Yashwant Sonawane by oil adulteration mafia near Manmad on Tuesday, Aafia Sayyad could not help but go back to the horrifying events of February 8, 2009.

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That was the day when Aafia’s husband, Salim Sayyad, 35, who worked for an honorarium in the tehsil office of Srigonda taluka in Ahmednagar district, was crushed under a tractor, allegedly by people who were illegally extracting sand from the bed of Ghod river. Sayyad, a class IV government employee, had gone to prevent this when he was killed. He died on the spot while his colleague sustained severe injuries.

Two years later, Aafia awaits justice and monetary help from the state. “We have been going door-to-door. But no help has come through so far,” Aafia, who has two children and no source of income, said during Thursday’s morcha by government employees to protest Sonawane’s killing.

The Ahmednagar collectorate sent a proposal to Mantralaya for providing assistance to Sayyad’s family, but nothing has moved on that front, Aafia said.

P Anbalagan, district collector of Ahmednagar, said: “Sayyad was not on the government rolls. Yet, we have sent a proposal for compensation requesting the government to consider this as a special case.” Government employees contributed some money, which was handed over to Sayyad’s family, Anbalagan said.

The region Sayyad worked in is represented by senior ministers such as Babanrao Pachpute, Balasaheb Thorat and Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil.

“The government has to act immediately on the proposal sent by the Ahmednagar district collector and give Sayyad’s family monetary help,” Laxmikant Pacharne, the Pune district chief of the State Revenue Employees' Association, said. “The administration cannot discriminate between employees on the basis of rank.”

The police have filed a charge sheet in Sayyad’s case. “The police arrested Vikas Pachpute for allegedly killing Sayyad. The trial is on,” deputy superintendent of police, Vikas Koah, said.