Maratha quota agitation: Panchayat body office torched in Jalna

A group of people set ablaze a panchayat samiti office in Maharashtra's Jalna district during the ongoing agitation over the demand for reservation to the Maratha community, police said on Tuesday.

Some quota supporters chanting "Ek Maratha Lakh Maratha" reached the panchayat samiti office at Ghansawangi in the district on Monday night, vandalised the premises and set it on fire, they said.

Police rushed to the spot quickly and doused the flames, but some important documents and furniture in two rooms of the office were damaged, an official from Ghansawangi police station said.

In a separate incident in Jalna, some youth from the Maratha community tried to block trains at a railway gate in Shelgaon village of Badnapur tehsil on Monday afternoon, a railway official said.

The protesters sat on the railway tracks in a bid to disrupt train services.

The Railway Protection Force (RPF) personnel and other railway officials rushed to the spot and spoke to the protesters, explaining the legal consequences of obstructing train services.

“The protesters left from the spot after the interaction," RPF sub-inspector Sandeep Kumar said.

Maratha quota activist Manoj Jarange has been continuing his indefinite fast in support of the reservation demand at Antarwali Sarati village in Jalna district since October 25.

On Monday, Jarange urged protesters to refrain from engaging in violence and arson.

Maratha community members have been staging protests in different parts of the state seeking reservation in government jobs and education under the OBC category.