Devendra Fadnavis welcomes Jarange’s hunger strike withdrawal, says demands will be met

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Thursday welcomed Maratha reservation activist Manoj Jarangersquos decision to end his hunger strike saying the state government has already accepted 12 of his 13 demands and will fulfil themFadnavis welcomes end of hunger strikeSpeaking to reporters after attending the flaghoisting ceremony in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar on Hyderabad Muktisangram Din also known as Marathwada Liberation Day Fadnavis said the government had appealed to Jarange to withdraw his protestI am happy that Manoj Jarange called off his hunger strike following our appeal We have already accepted 12 of his 13 demands Regarding the remaining demand we have explained the judicial issues involvedFadnavis said commitments made by the government and its subcommittee on Maratha reservations would be honoured while administrative procedures still needed to be completedThe decisions have already been taken but the administrative issues involved need to be addressed and we will do so he saidThe chief minister said the state government remained open to addressing concerns of the Maratha community Whether it is me or Deputy CM Eknath Shinde the Maratha community has received the most during our tenure he saidJarange ended his 20day hunger strike on Thursday morning but warned that he would take the agitation to Mumbai if his demands on Maratha reservation were not addressed within three monthsFadnavis wishes PM ModiFadnavis also wished Prime Minister Narendra Modi on his birthday and spoke about programmes planned to mark the occasionI wish PM Modi on behalf of the people of Maharashtra on his birthday PM Narendra Modi does not celebrate his birthday so we have decided to organise various programmes on the occasion Through Seva Saptah we will serve the people in different ways and ensure that they receive what they need he saidResponds to UPI criticismAsked about Congress leader Rahul Gandhirsquos criticism of the Centre over an ongoing UPIrelated issue the Maharashtra CM said he was not familiar with the subject and had only read what was provided to himHe said the Centre had already issued a clarification on UPI and there was no need to repeat itThose who criticise should know that India has developed the worlds largest payment system under the leadership of Narendra Modi It is being used by several countries Digital transactions and UPI ensure that subsidies are transferred directly into beneficiaries accounts helping to eliminate corruption Fadnavis saidTargets Shiv Sena UBT agitationCM Fadnavis also criticised the Shiv Sena UBT agitation underway across Marathwada since September 6 over projects announced for the region but yet to be implementedIt is the agitation of those who achieved nothing despite getting an opportunity We have shown what we have done in the past and we will continue to do so in the future Earlier when I said that flood mitigation measures would be brought to Marathwada they mocked us But we made it happen and tenders were floated The project was approved by the World Bank and funds were sanctioned the state chief minister saidHe added that the government had prepared a detailed project report for a proposal to bring water from KonkanI want to ask them the Thackerays Who developed the DMIC DelhiMumbai Industrial Corridor Who brought investments to the region Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar and Jalna have now become an EV magnet for the country Who made this possible They can continue opposing us This is an agitation by blusterers he addedWith inputs from PTI