Leaders, activists upset at govt staffs absence at Minority Rights Day event in Jalna

Leaders of some political parties and functionaries of outfits rued the absence of government officials at the Minority Rights Day event in Jalna in Maharashtra on Monday, though the district collector said it was due to staff being deployed for gram panchayat election duty.

Minority Rights Day, which was established in 1992, is celebrated nationwide on December 18, which was a Sunday, leading to the official observance of the day being scheduled this year on Monday, an official said.

Activists and political party leaders claimed government officials remained absent despite the Jalna district administration issuing a press note about the day being observed on Monday.

“Those who came for the event waited for three hours and returned due to the absence of government officials. It just shows how much the administration cares for this day,” Shahab Alam Khan, the chief of Nationalist Congress Partys district minority cell, said.

Urdu High School Principal Mohammed Iftequaruddin, social activists Iqbal Qureshi and Tayab Deshmukh also condemned the attitude of the government staff.

When contacted, Jalna Collector Vijay Rathod said his administration would celebrate the day in January.

“Officials were busy in election duty so could not attend the event,” Rathod.

Polls for 254 gram panchayat seats in Jalna were held on Sunday, and the results will be declared on Tuesday.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by The Federal staff and is auto-published from a syndicated feed.)