Deotale faces wrath of locals
Chandrapur guardian minister Sanjay Deotale had to face the ire of people when he visited the district on Sunday to review the flood situation there.
According to news reports, locals pelted stones on Mr Deotale’s convoy and the police had resort to lathi charge to disperse the crowd. While Mr Deotale denied the stone-pelting incident, he admitted that he had to face angry reaction from some locals during his tour.
Incessant rains and flash floods have left at least 20 people dead in the Chandrapur district.
According to reports by a few Marathi news channels, the incident took place at a Sister Colony area in Chandrapur. Locals confronted Mr Deotale on the government’s inaction over the issue.
However, when Mr Deotale did not give them satisfactory answers, a section of the crowd started hurling abuses at the minister and pelted stones, the reports claimed. The minister had to be whisked away in police security and the police also lathi-charged the crowd after the minister left the spot of the incident.
When contacted, Mr Deotale claimed that nothing of that sort had happened. “Even I heard about some news channels claiming that locals had pelted stones on my convoy, but that is not true. I toured Chandrapur to take review of the flood situation. This area was not in my tour schedule, but when officials told me that a crowd had gathered at this area and they expected me to visit there, I went there. People were angry. I tried to reason out with them, but when I realised that they did not want to listen to my point of view, I left the place.”
The Chandrapur district has been reeling under a flood-like situation since July 19 onward due to heavy downpour. Over 863 villages were affected and 1,226 hectares of land was submerged in the floods. Further, at least 20 people have died and around 8,000 people have been displaced. The floods are estimated to have harmed 2,16,450 hectare vegetation. Various roads have also been blocked.
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