Leaders representing the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), comprising the Shiv Sena (UBT), Nationalist Congress Party’s Sharad Pawar faction, and the Congress, took to the steps of Vidhan Bhavan in Mumbai, raising their voices against the alleged drug menace in the state.
Leader of the opposition in the legislative assembly, Vijay Wadettiwar, leader of the opposition in the council, Ambadas Danve, MLC Satej Patil, and several other legislators participated in the protest.
“The youth of Maharashtra is getting addicted to drugs, and the state is on the verge of becoming ‘Udta Maharashtra’ like ‘Udta Punjab,” expressed Wadettiwar, referencing the 2016 Bollywood film depicting a drug crisis in the northern state.
Speaking to reporters, the Congress leader accused some ministers of shielding drug racketeer Lalit Patil and demanded swift action against them.
Lalit Patil emerged as the kingpin of a recently busted drug racket in Mumbai, with a two-month-long operation resulting in the seizure of mephedrone worth approximately ₹300 crore and a raid at a drug manufacturing unit in Nashik.
Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, in a recent legislative assembly update, disclosed that the police have confiscated drugs worth about ₹50,000 crore in the state, tracking 2,200 small shops in Mumbai and removing them to curb the drug menace.
