Pune turns into fortress as violence spreads

PUNE: Someone did something to our God somewhere,” is how a boy, in his teens, explained his act of tyre-burning in Pimpri-Chinchwad on Thursday. He was part of a nearly 250-strong mob which has taken to the streets since Wednesday following an alleged statue desecration in Kanpur.
The police have imposed a 24-hour curfew in 13 sensitive localities in the city and the industrial township of Pimpri-Chinchwad. A majority of these areas fall within the Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) and three of them come under the Pune city limits.

Trouble in the PCMC area began on Wednesday night when the first news of the vandalism in Kanpur started trickling in. This was enough to spark a mob fury that torched two buses in the near vicinity. The police have so far detained 150 people for rioting and destruction of public property. A brand new mall in the PCMC area and the K Ward building of the PCMC also bore the brunt of rioting.

DN Jadhav, Pune police commissioner, said the trouble in the PCMC locality was aggravated mainly by the action of the Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Co (MSEDCL) at Bhatnagar in Pimpri. “Four to five days ago, MSEDCL staffers came here to cut power connections of illegal occupants of the buildings. The police went in support of the MSEDCL officials, and we believe these people are therefore trying to settle scores.” The area was cordoned off on Thursday morning till 2 pm. Bhatnagar is considered as a locality where illicit hooch is brewed, too.

The rail services took the maximum hit as protests spread. The Mumbai-bound Deccan Queen was the first be held up at Khadki railway station for 45 minutes as miscreants placed tyres on the tracks and set them ablaze at Bopodi. Even the Mumbai-Pune rail traffic was thrown out of gear, with the Udayan Express from Bangalore stopped midway in Pune at 12.15 pm on Thursday. Pune-Lonavala locals stood cancelled on Thursday.

The casualty figure went up as Wednesday’s violence left 10 police constables, three police officials and one fire brigade employee injured. According to the police, a total of 60 vehicles have been damaged, either through burning or stone-pelting, in the past 24 hours. In Pune, Wanowrie, Kondhwa, NIBM and Bund Garden reported tense. There has been, however, massive police deployment across the city.