He came, he saw, but he failed to conquer hearts

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi pays surprise visit to families of those killed in police firing on farmers in Maval, but young politician's famed charisma makes little impact this time as grieving kin say he promised nothing concrete

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi pays surprise visit to families of those killed in police firing on farmers in Maval, but young politician's famed charisma makes little impact this time as grieving kin say he promised nothing concrete

Ten days after the Maval police firing, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi paid a surprise visit to the families of the three deceased, Shyam Tupe, Moreshwar Sathe and Kanta Ankush Thakar. Members of the families of those killed in the firing put forward their views before Gandhi, but failed to receive any concrete assurance from him. MiD DAY met the three families, who were unanimous in saying that Gandhi only assured them the matter would be looked into, just like many other politicians who had met them after last week's police firing farmers agitating against a pipeline project.


Treading a Slippery path: Rahul Gandhi walks through a muddy path
on his way to the homes of the bereaved families in Maval
u00a0

The Congress politician at victim Kanta Thakar's residence in
Yelse village. Pics/Navnath Kaple

Gandhi first went to Sadavali and was present for the tenth day rituals for Tupe. Matin Tamboli, a local Congress supporter, could not believe his eyes when he saw Gandhi among the locals on the bank of the river Pavana. Gandhi sat with the locals and exchanged a few words with them. The villagers told him that the police who were guilty of irresponsible firing were only suspended while the protesters were booked under Section 307 of the IPC for attempting to kill policemen.

Gandhi met Tupe's septuagenarian mother Laxmibai, who told MiD DAY: "A mountain has fallen upon me. Nothing can compensate for our loss."u00a0 Gandhi spent 35 minutes in Sadavali and left for Shivne to meet the Sathe family. Sathe's wife, daughter and sister were present at their modest residence in Shivne. Lalita Sathe told MiD DAY: "Gandhi asked us how my father was killed in the firing." Sathe's cousin Kisan told MiD Day: "All announcements are just on paper. We have little hope from Gandhi, but unlike the NCP leaders, he at least came and met us. We firmly believe that my brother was killed while in police custody, but unfortunately no action was taken against the officer who ordered the firing."

On the family's decision to not accept the compensation, he said: "We came to know only late that the compensation was from the Congress party; we initially thought that it was from government and denied it considering it that the government is offering titbits to the family of a martyr."u00a0 The Thakar family said it was now pinning its hopes on Gandhi's promise to look into the matter. Kanta Thakar's son Nitin told MiD DAY: "We are moved by simplicity of this leader who sat with us and shared our grief. We hope he will steadfastly support us by not allowing the water pipeline."

When Rahul was not recognised
Satish Tupe, the nephew of deceased Shyam Tupe, was taken aback when an unknown visitor knocked. Little did he know that it was Rahul Gandhi who was requesting the family to give directions to the place where his uncle's tenth day rituals were underway. Satish told MiD DAY: "I could not interact with him as he was speaking in Hindi."

The pipeline project that has angered the villagers
> Considering the population surge, the PCMC in 2008 undertook a project to lift water from Pavana river. The idea was to bring the water in an enclosed pipeline from Pavana dam to Ravet. The project was inaugurated by Ajit Pawar on 1st May 2008
> The distance between the two points is 35.85 km
> From inception the project has met with strong protests. As a result the project cost has gonoe up from Rs 233 crore to Rs 700 crore.
> From Pavana dam the water will be lifted in jackwell and it was decided that it will be transported to Nigadi Water Purification Plant in Sector No. 23
> This project was included in JNNURM and the deadline for the project is March 2012
> Total 29 km of land has been acquired for the project. The work for the pipeline was kicked off at Gahunje and Shirgoan on July 15

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