Suicide bid by two teachers at Mantralaya

Representational picture

Two teachers seeking funds for 'divyang' schools attempted suicide by jumping off the second floor of Mantralaya, the state secretariat building in south Mumbai on Wednesday, police said. They were saved as they fell in the safety net, also installed at the same level in the state secretariat, police said. They had come to Mantralaya as members of a delegation of teachers demanding grants for the schools, an official said, adding both have been detained by police and are being interrogated.

The nylon safety net was installed outside the lobby of the building last year after a man committed suicide at Mantralaya to prevent such incidents. In February last year, a 45-year-old man committed suicide by jumping off the fifth floor of Mantralaya. The man, Harshal Raote, was convicted of killing his sister, and was out on parole since 10 January. A day earlier, a 32-year-old unemployed man had attempted suicide outside the building. Following these incidents, Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis had called for an overhaul of the building's security system.

The decision to install nylon nets had prompted barbs from the Opposition, with Dhananjay Munde, Opposition leader in the Maharashtra Legislative Council, slamming the Fadnavis-led government, asking if this was its development model. In January last year, 84-year-old Dharma Patil consumed a poisonous chemical at Mantralaya to protest low returns offered by state government while acquiring his land for a solar power plant. In March 2016, Madhav Kadam, a farmer from Nanded district, had attempted suicide by consuming an insecticide at Mantralaya.

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