Beed: A sarpanch was killed in a tragic road accident after his motorcycle was hit by a truck carrying coal ashes from brick kilns at Mirwat Phata here, police said. This comes amid the growing outrage over sarpanch Santosh Desmukh’s alleged murder in Kaij taluka.
The deceased, Abhimanyu Kshirsagar, who was the sarpanch of Saundana village, was riding his bike near Parli Dharmapuri Road when the accident took place, they said.
The impact of the accident was such that Kshirsagar died on the spot, police said, adding that his body was sent to the district hospital in Parli for postmortem.
The incident accident has put the spotlight on the alleged illegal transportation of coal ashes from brick kilns in the area as people linked it to environmental pollution and health problems in Parli.
The issue was previously highlighted by BJP MLA Suresh Dhas, who alleged that illegal ash transportation resulted in major environmental hazards in the area. He had said that he would bring the matter to Environment Minister Pankaja Munde’s notice.
“The highest pollution occurs in Parli taluka, as there are 300 brick kilns in Gayran near Sirsala. Owners of at least 150 of them have connections with a former guardian minister,” Dhas alleged.
Meanwhile, the police have launched a probe into the accident and are trying to ascertain details of the truck, its owner, and affiliations to confirm whether any conspiracy is involved.
The death of the sarpanch has sparked renewed demands from locals that action should be taken against those transporting ashes in the area despite its environmental and health hazards.
The incident comes over a month after Deshmukh, the sarpanch of Massajog in Beed, was allegedly abducted, tortured and murdered on December 9 for trying to stop an extortion bid on an energy firm helming a windmill project there, according to police.
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