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Maharashtra

In email era, Maha Deputy CM Ajit Pawar sends a postcard to President

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In the 21st century era of e-mail and instant messaging, Maharashtra’s Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar has relied on a nearly two-century-old means of communication to draw the attention of the President Ram Nath Kovind.

The oft-maverick Ajit Pawar – nephew of Nationalist Congress Party supremo Sharad Pawar – on Friday shot off a humble postcard to the Rashtrapati Bhavan on the long-pending issue of according the “classical language” status to Marathi.

In the neatly-typed postcard, Pawar has pointed out that although the Centre had taken the decision in 2004 to confer the “classical language” status to various languages, the Marathi language has been ignored despite repeated requests.

Even a high-level committee of language experts appointed by the Centre had unanimously approved a proposal to this effect seven years ago, but there has been no further progress in the matter, he said.

Pawar exhorted the President that it was necessary to grant the status of a “classical language” to Marathi as recommended even by the Sahitya Akademi, at the earliest.

“Marathi is not only an ancient language but also the state language, used by litterateurs, intellectuals, by people of religion besides the common masses, and ranks among the major languages in the world,” he pointed out.

Citing how there many documents which provide testimony that Marathi is a “classical language”, he urged the President to accord the status on priority.

Then, Pawar personally signed the postcard in green ink, mentioned his full residential address, affixed 2 stamps of Rs 3 each with the picture of the shehnai maestro Ustad Bismillah Khan, and it was ‘posted’.

Last year, the Maharashtra Legislature passed a unanimous resolution recommending to the Centre to accord the “classical language” status to Marathi.

In anticipation of the status, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray in October cleared the proposal to construct a ‘Marathi Bhasha Bhavan’ on a 2,500 square metre plot in south Mumbai, which had been on the backburner for nearly eight years.

Coming up within the Jawahar Bal Bhavan complex at Marine Drive, the work on the centre is starting shortly with a completion target of 18 months, with a library, an expo centre, conference halls, etc, to promote the Marathi language.

During the tenure of Congress Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan, a committee chaired by litterateur Rangnath Pathare had prepared a voluminous report running into 500 pages on the same issue.

The report had been forwarded to the government in July 2013, but the matter remained unresolved after the change of guard both at the Centre and the state.

The Akhil Bharatiya Marathi Sahitya Sammelan, which started in 1878, has demanded the “classical language” status for Marathi several times in the past.

Presently, there are six languages bestowed the status officially – Sanskrit, Tamil, Kannada, Telugu, Malayalam, and Odia, based on various parameters.

This paves the way for two prestigious international-level awards for scholars of eminence in the Indian “classical language”, setting up centres of excellence for studies in these languages, the University Grants Commission creating or starting certain number of Professional Chairs in such languages besides dedicating various institutions for the same to promote the study and research in such “classical languages”.

disaster

Mumbai’s Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Sudhakar Pathare, who was posted in the Port Zone, passed away in a road accident on Saturday.

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Pathare had visited Hyderabad for training. He was on his way to visit a temple with a relative when the accident occurred. Both Pathare and his relative lost their lives in the crash.

Mumbai Police have been informed about the incident.

More details are awaited.

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Maharashtra

Order to demolish the tomb of Hazrat Syed Bale Shah Baba in Mira Bhayander

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Mumbai: The state government has issued an order to demolish the four hundred year old dargah of Hazrat Syed Bale Shah Peer Rahmatullah Alaih located in Mira Bhayander. Mira Bhayander Municipal Corporation has sent a letter to the collector declaring this dargah illegal and ordered action against it. As the dargah is located on forest land, communalists had started demanding the demolition of the dargah. In the House, Darranjan Daukhre had also demanded action against the dargah, after which now the state government has ordered to run a bulldozer on the dargah. An order has also been issued to remove and demolish the dargah by May.

Dargah trustee Amjad Sheikh said that this dargah is ancient and this order is illegal in itself. In this case, communal forces had launched a campaign against the dargah, after which this order was issued.

There is a dargah on the beach and citing the threat of terrorist and illegal activities and the presence of terrorists here, there was a demand to demolish the dargah. The dargah is close to the sea and in such a situation, the threat of a terrorist attack on Mumbai from the sea has been expressed, while the dargah administration has clearly denied this and said that communal organizations are running their agenda against the dargah and there is no such threat. Muslims have opposed this decision of the government and Muslims have also expressed their displeasure and anger over it.

The trustee says that this dargah is ancient and earlier the collector and the municipal corporation had given a notice, after which the illegal shed and other premises were demolished here and the dargah administration has taken this action at its own level. Now an order has been issued to demolish the dargah itself.

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Maharashtra

Haji Ali Dargah will be closed for pilgrims for a few hours on Eid due to rising sea level

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Mumbai: Due to rising sea level at Haji Ali Dargah in Mumbai, the dargah will be closed for pilgrims for a few hours on Eid. On March 31, the dargah will be closed for pilgrims from 12 noon to 3 pm. During this time, entry of pilgrims to the dargah will be restricted. The dargah will be closed on Tuesday, April 1 from 12:45 pm to 3:45 pm and on Wednesday, April 2 from 1:30 pm to 4:30 pm.

Therefore, we have appealed to the pilgrims not to gather at the dargah during these hours. This information has been released by Tahir, administrative officer of Haji Ali Dargah. Pilgrims visit Haji Ali Dargah on Eid-Basi and Tiwasi, but due to the rising water level of the sea, water gets accumulated on the way to the Dargah and entry to the Dargah is prohibited and the gate of the Dargah remains closed during these days, due to which there is a lot of crowd there. Therefore, pilgrims have been requested to come to the Dargah only at the scheduled time.

The police also remains vigilant at the Dargah during the rising sea level, as there is a crowd of pilgrims here during Eid and festivals. The Haji Ali Dargah administration has said that on the occasion of Eid, lakhs of pilgrims visit the Dargah of Haji Ali (RahmatullahAlaih). These pilgrims include pilgrims from the country and abroad, so the Dargah administration has also claimed special security arrangements on Eid. Spiritual scenes are also seen at Haji Ali Dargah during Eid prayers.

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