Villagers in Latur district seeking state highway realignment end their hunger strike

Latur, Oct 9 (PTI) A group of villagers in Maharashtra's Latur district, who had launched an indefinite hunger strike to demand realignment of a state highway passing through their area, called off their agitation following intervention by local BJP MLA Sambhaji Patil Nilangekar.
Residents of Sakol and surrounding villages under Shirur-Anantpal tehsil had launched the hunger strike on Monday and vowed not to withdraw it till their demand for realignment of the Tembhurni-Latur-Deoni state highway 145 was accepted.
Former state minister and BJP MLA Nilangekar met protesters and assured them to take up the issue with Public Works Department Minister Ravindra Chavan.
Following the assurance, the villagers withdrew their hunger strike on Tuesday, said Amit Honmale, one of the protesters.
According to villagers, the state highway 145 should be rerouted through Sakol. At the moment, it is going from the Sakol medium irrigation project which is causing inconvenience to people. The highway should pass via Talegaon-Sakol-Tipral, they said.
Villagers had staged a 'rasta roko' (road block) agitation last month followed by a protest in front of the Latur collector office in support of their demand. They had also submitted a memorandum to authorities.
"I will personally write a letter to minister Ravindra Chavan (over state highway realignment demand)," said the MLA from Nilanga in Latur district at the protest site.
The villages whose residents are agitating fall under Nilangekar's assembly constituency.
"If our demand is not, we will boycott the upcoming assembly polls," Honmale said.
Sakol, with a population of 20,000, is one of the main settlements in Shiroor-Anantpal tehsil. Besides Sakol, residents of nearby villages such as Rani Ankulga, Ghugi, Sangvi, Jawalga, Waghnalwadi, Shend, and Kanegao are also agitating over the state highway realignment issue.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)