Summary:
At a rally near the collectorate, young women from the community addressed the gathering, explaining the reason for the morcha. “It was the weekend and we anticipated fewer motorists on the road. The participants submitted a memorandum of demands to collector Naval Kishore Ram, including a demand for a probe into recent incidents of atrocities committed across the state against the community. However, many people headed to Camp in four-wheelers,” the police said.PMPML buses too were diverted onto smaller roads, adding to the chaos.Silent marchThousands of members of the Matang community took part in Saturday’s silent march, organized under the banner of “Matang Sangharsh Mahamorcha”.The participants included women and youth from the city and the rural parts. The morcha started from Swargate at noon and culminated in front of the district collector’s office late in the afternoon.A circular issued by the traffic department, advising people not to use the roads located along the route of the morcha — Swargate to Camp and Camp to Collector’s Office, near Sassoon hospital — was largely ignored by motorists, compounding the ytraffic problem.This caused snarls at Dandekar Chowk, Satara Road, Maharshinagar, Shankarseth Road and Camp..