The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Wednesday announced a one-day holiday for all its offices following the tragic death of Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar in a plane crash near Baramati. The civic body clarified that only employees involved in essential and emergency services will remain on duty. Earlier in the day, the Maharashtra government declared January 28 a public holiday across the state and announced three days of state mourning to honour the senior leader. Ajit Pawar lost his life on Wednesday morning after his private aircraft crashed while attempting to land in Baramati, located in Pune district.
In an official post on X (formerly Twitter), the Maharashtra Chief Minister’s Office stated that Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis cancelled all his scheduled programmes following the incident. Both CM Fadnavis and Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde subsequently departed for Baramati. “A public holiday has been declared in the state today, and a three-day mourning period has been announced,” the post said.
Under Secretary of the Maharashtra government, H.P. Baviskar, issued a formal order directing officials to take necessary action to observe the mourning period. As per the directive, the National Flag will be flown at half-mast on all government buildings across Maharashtra from January 28 to January 30 as a mark of respect to the departed leader.