Internet and ST bus services back to normal after Manoj Jarange Patil ends protest

Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar: Internet services in Maharashtra's Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar and Jalna districts have been restored after a three-day shutdown due to the escalating violence associated with the Maratha reservation agitation. This decision follows the conclusion of Maratha activist Manoj Jarange-Patil's hunger strike and protest. Jarange-Patil had given the state government a deadline to meet his demand for granting reservations to all Marathas, with the deadline set for December 24.

Jarange-Patil, who had been on a hunger strike in Antarwali Sarathi village in Jalna district for nine days, ended his fast after a discussion with a government delegation. Earlier in the week, the Maratha quota protest turned violent, with activists vandalizing state transport buses, setting fire to two Nationalist Congress Party MLAs' houses, and causing damage to various state government and private properties.

To contain the violence and prevent the misuse of social media, the state government opted to suspend internet services in specific Marathwada region districts, namely Jalna and Sambhajinagar. Additionally, state transport buses resumed services in Solapur, Jalna, Dharashiv (Osmanabad), and Beed, bringing relief to thousands of passengers in rural Maharashtra.