Vidarbha Rajya Andolan Samiti (VRAS) staged a demonstration at Samvidhan Square over separate Vidarbha issue. Office-bearers and members of VRAS from across the region took part in the agitation.
They raised slogans against the State government and accused it of not fulifiling the promise of carving out Vidarbha from Maharashtra in the General Elections 2014. The organisation has also decided to contest the State Assembly elections under the banner of Vidarbha Nirman Mahamanch.
Adv Wamanrao Chatap, Ram Neole, Ranjana Mamarde, Prabirkumar Chakravarty, Devidas Lanjewar, Purushottam Patil, Arun Kedar, Moreshwar Tembhurne, Dharmraj Revatkar, Mangalmurti Sonkusre, Mukesh Samarth, Vijya Dhote, Rameshwar Burde, Munna Mahajan, Sunil Chokhare, Ahmed Kadar, Avinash Kale, Rohit Harne and Puroshottam Hagwane addressed the gathering.
Mukesh Mansurkar conducted the proceedings. It was also decided to take out a ‘Veej March (power rally)’ from Samvidhan Square to Koradi to protest against the higher power tariff on June 3. “Power tariff is very high in Maharashtra. From slum dwellers to middle-class, all are troubled with high electricity bills. Even agriculture pumps are charged. For industries, per unit charge is around rs 13, which is making it hard for the industrial units to sustain. To protest the exorbitant tariff a rally would be taken out on June 3,” secretary Rupesh Bhoyar said in a statement released here.
Despite such high tariff, many villages are not getting uninterrupted electricity. At some villages, load-shedding is of 12 hours. There are various other issues like unemployment which would be raised during the rally. A agitation would also be staged in front of State energy minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule’s residence.
Krishna Bhongde, Vijay Agbattalwar, Mangalbabu Chindalia, Rajendra Agarkar, Pradip Dhamankar, Vikhil Bhute, Murlidhar Thakre, Vishnu Ashtikar, Rajendra Bhut, Bhagwant Rathi, Vinod Bhabre, Anil Bhure, Arvind Borkar, Saurabh Gabhne, Nitin Rondhe, Naresh Nimje, Ganesh Sharma and others were present.
