Jalna: The health of Shivba Sanghatana leader Manoj Jarange-Patil started deteriorating on the fifth day of his sixth hunger strike here on Saturday, his party leaders said.

Manoj Jarange-Patil’s Health Deteriorates

Since Friday noon he was feeling exhausted and sickly, and his supporters were concerned to see him lying restlessly on his stomach or not communicating with them. Last evening, at one point, Jarange-Patil got up to address his people, but his legs didn’t seem to support his weight and he suddenly fell into a heap, appearing to be motionless. However, his aides who were around managed to catch him in time and prevented him from falling down and hurting himself. They helped him sit upright again and after that he again took some rest at the hunger strike venue.

From Friday night, many of his alarmed followers, some with tears in their eyes and many women seen weeping, made frantic appeals to Jarange-Patil to break his hunger strike, or at least get some medication to revive him, but he remained adamant. Later, state Minister Shambhuraj Desai called up Jarange-Patil with the same plea, plus many of his close aides repeatedly goaded him to get treated for his frail health, and he reluctantly agreed to do so in the wee hours of Saturday.

Medical Team Immediately Administers Him With Saline & Other Medicines

A medical team present at the spot immediately administered him with saline and certain medicines, which he has started taking, while going a little easy on the agitation since Saturday morning. As the hunger-strike gets longer and the date of Maharashtra Assembly elections looms closer, Maratha groups have issued calls for a shutdown (bandh) in Beed and Osmanabad districts to express solidarity with Jarange-Pail.

The Maratha leader started his long agitation for quotas for the community in August 2023, and the latest decisive phase – which he termed as his ‘last’ hunger strike and a ‘final opportunity’ to the Mahayuti government before the Assembly polls – kicked off from September 17 at his village Antarvali-Sarati in Jalna district.

His demands are the implementation of the ‘sage-soyare (family bloodline)’ notification, giving Marathas reservation from the OBC quotas, a government notification stating that Marathas and Kunbis are the same, plus other related demands including withdrawal of police cases filed against the Marathas for taking part in the quotas campaign.

Mumbai: Today, on September 21, 2024, Mumbai is experiencing the temperature of 27.99 °C. The I forecast predicts temperatures ranging from 26.99 °C to 29.06 °C. Relative humidity is at 74%, while wind speed ranges from 72 km/h to 2.57 km/h. The sun will rise at 06:27 AM and is expected to set at 06:36 PM.

The forecast for today predicts that the sky will be overcast. Please organise your day based on the temperature and expected weather forecast. Have fun in the sun and remember to wear sunscreen and sunglasses while you bask in the nice weather.

Today’s air quality index in Mumbai is 275.0, categorising it as unhealthy. Kids and individuals with respiratory conditions like asthma should remain inside, while everyone else should restrict their time outdoors. Having knowledge of the AQI allows individuals to make informed choices about their health when scheduling daily tasks.

The number of polling stations designated in the Greater Mumbai area is now 10 thousand 111

An increase of 218 polling stations compared to Lok Sabha General Election-2024

Now average up to 1200 voters per center

In view of the upcoming Maharashtra Assembly Elections-2024, as per the instructions given by the Hon’ble Election Commission of India from time to time, polling stations in the Greater Mumbai area (Mumbai City and Mumbai Suburban Districts) have been streamlined with a view to enable voters to vote easily. Due to this streamlining program, the number of polling stations in Greater Mumbai area has increased to 10 thousand 111. Compared to Lok Sabha General Election-2024, the number of polling stations has increased by 218. In this, the average number of voters per polling station will now be 1200 from the earlier average of 1500, thus the number of polling stations has increased and as a result will help increase the volume and speed of voting.

As per the instructions of Hon’ble Election Commission of India and State Election Commission, District Election Officer and Commissioner of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation Shri. Under the guidance of Bhushan Gagrani, preparations are being made in a planned manner by the administration in the background of the upcoming assembly elections. The polling stations have been streamlined on this line.

The number of polling stations has been fixed keeping in mind that the average number of voters will be up to 1200 per polling station while streamlining the polling stations in Greater Mumbai area. So, the polling stations in the same location with more polling stations have been decentralised. Therefore, the number of polling booths has increased in some parts of Greater Mumbai as compared to Lok Sabha General Election-2024.

In line with this, a meeting was held yesterday evening (dated September 19, 2024) at Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation Headquarters with the representatives of political parties to inform about the regularization of polling stations in various constituencies in Brihanmumbai. District Election Officer and Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation to provide information about polling station reorganization and to create awareness among the voters. Commissioner Mr. Under the guidance of Bhushan Gagrani, Additional District Election Officer and Additional Municipal Commissioner (City) Dr. (Mrs.) Ashwini Joshi held a meeting with the representatives of various political parties and gave detailed information about it.Additional District Election Officer and Mumbai City Collector Shri. Sanjay Yadav, Special Duty Officer (Election) Shri. Vijay Balamwar, concerned officials and representatives of various political parties attended the meeting.

At the time of Lok Sabha General Election – 2024, there were a total of 2 thousand 509 polling stations in Mumbai city district. So, in Mumbai suburb district this number was 7 thousand 384. Due to the streamlining programme, the number of polling stations has increased to 2 thousand 537 and 7 thousand 574 respectively i.e. 10 thousand 111 in the entire Greater Mumbai area (Mumbai city and Mumbai suburb districts).