MUMBAI: Rohit Arya, who was killed in a police encounter for holding children hostage, was a victim of the Maharashtra government’s red tapism.
Rohit Arya worked with the Maharashtra government’s education department project, known as Swachata Monitor. The state government was supposed to pay him Rs two crore as project consultant fees, but it failed despite his several peaceful protests.
He even went on hunger strike and protested in front of erstwhile education minister Deepak Kesarkar’s bungalow, where he fainted and was taken into an ambulance.
Despite these efforts, his dues were not paid.
Shiv Sena MLA and former education minister Deepak Kesarkar confirmed the contribution of Rohit Arya, but said that his method of demanding the dues amount was wrong. He said the safety of the children was equally important; therefore, the police killed him in an encounter.
“We were ready to pay the money to Rohit Arya, but we came to know that he had collected the money from the students. Therefore, we asked him to return the collected money from the students, only then the state government would pay his dues. But he failed to do and his method of holding children hostage was not good; therefore, he lost his life. We had already made the budget provision to pay his and other people's dues who work with the state government on various projects. Unfortunately, he took the wrong step,” Kesarkar said.
NCP SP MLA and former minister Jitendra Awhad said that, like Rohit Arya, several contractors worked for the state government and are running from pillar to post to get their money for their work.
“It is unfortunate that the contractors were forced to do kidnapping of the children to raise their unpaid dues. We did not support the method of Rohit Arya for kidnapping the children to raise his unpaid dues. Still, the state government is also equally responsible for this unfortunate incident and the death of Rohit Arya,” Awhad said.
He further said that the female doctor in Satara raised her voice, but she became a victim of the system and killed herself, while Rohit Arya was killed in a police encounter. “Both got killed by the system,” the NCP SP leader said.