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BMC engineer allegedly assaulted by Shiv Sena (UBT) members over shakha demolition
Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Anil yogeshsaid the sainiks couldn’t tolerate insults to their icons during demolition of the party shakha and alleged that an illegal shakha of the Eknath Shinde led Sena was spared
MUMBAI: A municipal engineer was slapped and manhandled by members of the Shiv Sena (UBT) on Monday who accused him of demolishing a party office in the Nirmal Nagar area of Bandra East over allegations that it was unauthorised but not taking any action against the one used by the ruling Shiv Sena led by chief minister Eknath Shinde.
Leaders of the Shiv Sena (UBT) also alleged that the H East ward assistant engineer Ajay Patil insulted Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and party founder Balasaheb Thackeray by not allowing the sainiks to remove their statute before the demolition started.
Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation commissioner IS Chahal said that he has sought a report from the officials on the assault.
Mumbai joint commissioner of police (law and order) Satyanarayan said the police will “take strong action” in this case. “We are in the process of filing the FIR,” he said.
The incident, which was captured on a mobile phone, took place in the office of the assistant commissioner of H East ward, Swapnaja Kshirasagar, who had received a delegation of Shiv Sena (UBT) members to flag complaints of contaminated water received from certain areas in Bandra East such as Golibar slums, Gandhi Nagar, Jawahar Nagar, Maharashtra Nagar and Dnyaneshwar Nagar.
At some point, the issue of the municipal corporation demolishing the party’s shakha came up. Soon, they identified Ajay Patil as the officer who led the demolition and started to rain blows on the official.
Former minister Anil Parab said the sainiks could not tolerate insults of their icons during the demolition.
“Patil acted only against our shakha and demolished it. He did not touch an illegal shakha of Shiv Sena headed by Eknath Shinde. Our shakha had a bust of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and our founder Balasaheb Thackeray. We told the demolition squad to allow us to remove the bust of Shivaji Maharaj and Balasaheb, but they carried out the demolition. Our men were upset with this and we can’t tolerate insults to our icons. Our Shiv Sainiks have slapped Patil. We own up to the attack. Now the police have started arresting our men,” he said.
As the sainiks started to slap the assistant engineer, some officials escorted the assistant commissioner out of the room. A BMC guard also stepped up to shield the engineer from the attackers.
Sainath Rajadhyakasha, working president of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Engineers Union, demanded the immediate arrest of the attackers, threatening that the engineers will otherwise stop municipal services.
Shiv Sena spokesperson Sheetal Mhatre said the incident was an attempt to politicise Balasaheb’s photograph. “We installed Balasaheb portrait in the state legislature. They thrashed an engineer for demolishing a picture of Balasaheb, but what about Shiv Sena (UBT) members not adhering to the views of Balasaheb? This is a government that believes in law and action will be taken.’’
A BMC deputy commissioner who asked not to be identified said the assault was a message by the Shiv Sena UBT not to pull down their illegal shakhas. The official also said that assistant commissioner Swapnaja Kshirsagar should not have allowed so many people inside her cabin. “The H East ward office should have also called local police to prevent any untoward incident”, he said.
