Maratha morcha to give kin of 37 suicide victims Rs 1 lakh each

MUMBAI: Upset with the Devendra Fadnavis government for not responding to their demands, the

Maratha

Kranti Morcha (MKM) has decided to help the family members of the 37 community activists who committed suicide in protest against the state's "delay" in taking a decision on the Maratha reservation issue.


Mahesh Dongre, one of the convenors of the morcha, said, "MKM has decided to help the families of the deceased by collecting money from the community. Rs 1 lakh will be handed over to each of these families on Monday. The government should declare all 37 deceased as martyrs." The programme will held at

Yashwantrao Chavan

Auditorium near Mantralaya. But another MKM convenor told TOI he won't be participating in the function. "This might be a politically-motivated event," he said.

MKM has demanded Rs 10 lakh in compensation and a job for each of the 37 families. "But the state has not yet responded to this demand," Dongre said. "That's why we have decided to help these families by collecting money our selves."

The dissenting convenor said not everyone in MKM wanted the programme to be organized. "It wasn't a unanimous decision. If they really want to help the family members of the deceased, they should give the money to them at their home, instead of turning it into an event," he said.

Dongre refuted the allegation that it is a politically-motivated event, saying, "We will announce the names of those who have helped the community. It is being done by us in the larger interest of the grieving poor from our community."

In the wake of the Maratha demand for quotas, the state government in 2014 granted 16% reservation for the community, but this was later struck down by the Bombay high court, which asked the government to submit documents to prove the community's backwardness.