Curfew imposed in Dharashiv district after violence during Maratha quota agitation

Smoke billows after an office of NCP was set on fire by Maratha reservation agitators, in Beed district (Pic/PTI)

A curfew has been imposed in Maharashtra's Dharashiv district after incidents of violence during the ongoing agitation for Maratha reservation, according to the local administration.

The assembly of more than five people is not allowed during the curfew period, as per an order issued on Monday night by district collector Sachin Ombase.

The curfew is imposed under section 144 (2) of the CrPC in the district and will continue till further orders, an official release said.

The order will be applicable to schools, colleges and shops in the district, it said.

However, shops selling medicines and milk, and government offices, banks, public transport services, hospitals and media have been exempted.

Agitations and hunger strikes over the demand for reservation to the Maratha community have been going on in various parts of the district.

A bus of the Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) has been torched in Omerga tehsil of the district, the release said.

The ongoing agitation seeking reservation for the Maratha community descended into violence and arson on Monday as quota protesters torched, vandalised homes or offices of three MLAs, targeted a municipal council building and disrupted road traffic in Maharashtra, police earlier said.

Most of the violent incidents and arson took place in Beed district, where the local administration on Monday imposed a curfew till "further orders" in some parts and in one locality, police fired tear-gas shells to disperse a mob of Maratha agitators that had gathered outside the home of a Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader.

The local office of the NCP was also torched in Beed on Monday evening.

Homes of two NCP MLAs were set ablaze in Beed, while the office of another legislator from the ruling BJP was vandalised by protesters, they said, adding no casualties were reported.

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