In Mumbai, hundreds of enraged State Transport workers broke into the residence ‘Silver Oak’ of veteran Marathi politician and NCP president Sharad Pawar on 8th April 2022. The ST workers pelted stones and slippers on shared Pawar’s residence. Policemen are currently deployed in large numbers near ‘Silver Oak’ and many of the protesting State Transport workers are taken into custody. The workers’ strike going on for the last few months in Maharashtra took an unexpected turn when it was apparently about to end. The workers suddenly became aggressive with a demand to dissolve the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation and absorb all the workers as government employees.
The protest took place all of a sudden. Transport workers gathered in huge numbers near ‘Silver Oak’ and started pelting stones and slippers at the bungalow. In the beginning, the security persons and the police deployed inside the bungalow tried to stop the protesting workers but they could not control the mob of hundreds of protesters. Later, a bigger police force led by IPS officer Vishwas Nangare Patil joined them.
There were many women amongst the protesting Transport workers. They registered their protest by making noise with the bangles in their hands. They held Sharad Pawar and Ajit Pawar responsible for the suicides and deaths of more than 120 transport workers during the last six months of protest and strike.
Chappal and Stones thrown at Sharad Pawar residence 🤣😂 pic.twitter.com/cewAwfgndY
— Wali ವಾಲಿ (@Netaji_bond_) April 8, 2022
Sharad Pawar’s daughter and NCP MP Supriya Sule came out to talk with the protesting workers. She said, “We are ready to talk with the workers. Please maintain silence. Please don’t pelt stones and slippers. My father, mother, and my daughter are inside the house. Their safety is of utmost importance to me. I am ready to listen to everyone if they maintain silence.”
Many protestors were taken into custody by the police. Police vans were not insufficient to take them into custody and therefore, school buses were called. Even while being arrested, the protesting workers kept on raising slogans against the government and in support of the demand to dissolve the ST corporation in the regular government services.
On Thursday 7th April 2022, the Bombay high court ordered that transport workers should join back their duties by 22nd April 2022 and no action will be taken against them if they do so. The court also instructed the state transport corporation to give pensions and gratuities to the workers and not to take any action against them.
