Villagers from as many as 47 villages in the Etapalli taluka of the district have decided to boycott Lok Sabha elections to press for a separate state of Vidarbha, sources said here today.

Besides raising other important demands, the election boycott is also in protest against the administration not solving their basic problems.

The decision which was taken by villagers during their meetings was declared today at a press conference by office bearers of Rashtriya Janhitavadi Yuwa Samiti. They also submitted a memorandum to the district collector today in this regard.

Problems of tribals in remote areas of Etapalli taluka have been ignored all these years and they are deprived of various welfare schemes, despite various agitations, due to which they have decided to boycott elections as a last resort, Samiti founder Suresh Barsagade told reporters.

Other demands raised by the Samiti are that a separate Aheri district be formed, forest rights be given to all encroachers, ownership rights of land sanctioned under forest rights be given to land holders, free and quality education be provided to students in tribal areas, lease of iron ore in the district should not be given to any private company and reservation to other backward castes (OBCs) be raised to 19 per cent.

In a significant order, the Bombay High Court banned reclamation of wetlands as well as construction activities on them across Maharashtra.

The order came following a slew of complaints against authorities concerned over their failure to rein in the encroachers.

The bench headed by Justice V M Kanade, which was hearing a PIL filed by NGO Vanshakti, also directed Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) and Collectors of Thane, Mumbai Suburban District and Mumbai City to file reports within four weeks on action taken on alleged violations in wetland areas of the state.
The PIL alleged destruction of wetlands in suburban Malwani, Dahisar, Vasai, Esselworld, Oshiwara, Kanakia Nagar in Mira Road, Kasheli in Thane and Palm Beach Road area in Navi Mumbai.

The PIL said despite a High Court order four months ago, police and civic bodies had failed to take stringent action on complaints relating to alleged destruction of mangroves and wetlands in at least 14 locations in and around Mumbai including Thane, Diva, Mumbra, Vasai and Mira Bhayander.

The government had told the court earlier that an authority for monitoring wetlands would be constituted soon.

However, the NGO’s counsel, Gayatri Singh argued that the state government had not come out with a time-bound programme as when such an authority would be established.

The government had informed earlier that an expert committee had confirmed in a report that wetlands in neighbouring Vasai were being destroyed due to construction activities.

The NGO alleged that police did not heed complaints in this regard. The government argued that police were not empowered to take action in these matters but MPCB was.

The PIL said the Wetlands (conservation and management) Rules, 2010, were not being implemented in the state despite India being a signatory to the Ramsar Convention.

It also stated that the wetland atlas prepared by the Indian Scientific Research Organisation was not recognised by the state.

A PIL has urged the Bombay High Court to issue a direction to the Union government to spell out the status of Hindi language and also to rename the country as ‘Bharat’ and not ‘India’.

“There is ambiguity in respect of Hindi language… In some text books it is termed as ‘official language’ while in others it is called as Raj bhasha (state language) or ‘Rashtra Bhasha’ (national language). Some books even refer to Hindi as ‘sampark bhasha’ (contact language),” the PIL said.

The government should clear this ambiguity in the school text books and declare what is the actual status of Hindi language.

The PIL, filed recently, also expressed concern with the dual name of the country viz ‘India’ and ‘Bharat’. “
The country should be known as ‘Bharat’ and citizenship as ‘Bhartiya”, the petition, based on RTI, said.
The petition argues that just as an individual cannot have two names, the country also cannot be called by two

different names viz India, Bharat or Hindustan.

“When Britishers ruled the country, its name was changed from ‘Bharat’ to ‘India’. After Independence, it

continued to be known as India. The country should be called as ‘Bharat’ which is its original name,” the PIL said.

The petition, filed by RTI activist Manoranjan Roy, said he had received a reply from Ministry of Home Affairs in

New Delhi stating that under the provisions of Constitution, Hindi was the official language of the Union although there was no provision for national language in the constitution.

As far as the name of the country was concerned, the government reply said that no such information was available with the department. A copy of the reply was annexed to PIL. The respondents to the petition are the Union of India and State of Maharashtra. The PIL would come up for hearing in due course.

BJP has decided to field Kapil Patil, chairman of the Thane District Cooperative Bank, from Bhiwandi Lok Sabha seat and Heena Gavit from the Nandurbar Lok Sabha seat in Maharashtra. Karunanidhi has compromised on reservation policy, she charged.

The decision was taken at the BJP Central Election Committee (CEC) meeting which was attended by party president Rajnath Singh and Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi beside other senior party leaders, party sources said.

Heena Gavit, a doctor and daughter of senior NCP leader and Maharashtra’s minister for Horticulture and Medical Education Vijay Kumar Gavit, today joined BJP in the pressence of Modi and Rajnath Singh.

She has been given the party ticket from Nandurbar, senior BJP leader Gopinath Munde and Rajiv Pratap Rudy who is in charge of party affairs in Maharashtra said.

The party also decided to field Vijay Jadav, a former MLA from Resod Assembly seat, in the by-elections for the Maharashtra Assembly.

The CEC also authorised party president Rajnath Singh to take a final call on the BJP candidates from the Pune and Latur Lok Sabha seats.

The party stands divided for the Pune seat where BJP national spokesperson Prakash Javrekar in a claimant after he lost out on a Rajya Sabha re-nomination to RPI’s Ramdas Athawale.

Sitting MLA Girish Bapat, a close confidant of former party president Nitin Gadkari and Anil Shirol, the district president and an aide of senior party leader Gopinath Munde, are also strong claimants for the seat. Gadkari and Munde are lobbying for their candidates.

The sessions court is likely to pronounce the verdicts in the cases related to two gangrapes that took place at the Shakti Mill premises here last year, leading to a countrywide outrage, on Thursday.

“The court is likely to pronounce the verdicts on Thursday,” said the special public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam.

The first case pertains to the gang-rape of a 22-year-old magazine photojournalist who had gone to the deserted Shakti Mills compound in Central Mumbai with a male colleague on an assignment on August 22, 2013.

Five men, (including a juvenile, whose case was separated) are accused of raping her there after assaulting her colleague.

The accused in this case, namely, Vijay Jadhav, Kasim Bengali, Salim Ansari and Siraj Rehman (and the minor boy), are charged with rape, conspiracy, common intention, unnatural sex and offences under the Information Technology Act.

The other case is of an 18-year-old telephone operator who was allegedly gang-raped by five persons (including three of the accused in the first case) on the same premises on July 31 last year.

The accused in this case are Mohammed Ashfaq Sheikh, Mohamed Kasim Hafiz Sheikh alias Kasim Bengali, Salim Ansari, Vijay Jadhav and a minor. The minor’s case was separated.

During the trial, special prosecutor Nikam termed the incidents as horrible, gruesome, merciless sexual assaults on two helpless, defenceless and innocent survivors.

Defence lawyers R G Gadgil and Prakash Salsingikar, on the other hand, contended that prosecution’s versions were concocted ones, without any evidence.

“The screenplay was ready, the police went on casting the actors (the accused),” advocate Gadgil argued.

The prosecution examined 44 witnesses in the photojournalist’s case and 31 in the other case. The defence examined three witnesses in the photojournalist’s case and only one witness in the other case.