Upping the ante in their protest on the pothole-ridden roads in the metropolis and surrounding areas, a group of MNS workers dug up pavement right outside Mantralaya, the State Secretariat, in the wee hours of Tuesday.
Hours after some of their party colleagues ransacked the office of the Public Works Department (PWD) at Turbhe in Navi Mumbai in protest against potholes on the Sion-Panvel road, nearly 20 MNS activists descended on the pavement outside the Mantralaya at around 3am with digging rods, spades and other tools.
Shortly after the MNS workers began digging the pavement using the tools that they had carried with them, the police personnel posted at Mantralaya rushed to the scene and prevented them from continuing with their symbolic protest against the potholes on roads in the metropolis and neighbouring areas.
“We took all the MNS members present at the scene to the Marine Drive police station. Of them, we have arrested eight involved in digging up of the footpath,” said Manojkumar Sharma, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Zone -I) .
The arrested MNS workers have been booked under relevant sections of IPC and the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act, 1984 for damaging public property and breaching prohibitory orders.
After indulging in a rampage at the PWD office at Turbhe, the MNS activists had warned the Maharashtra Government if it did not undertake repairs of the pothole-ridden Sion-Panvel Road, their party’s next target would be Mantralaya.
On his party, MNS chief Raj Thackeray had defended the action by his party workers, saying: “Whatever my party workers have done is correct. If the State Government cannot see potholes on the road, my party has no alternative but to undertake protests in a manner our party workers did today”.