Centre offers to locate western zone linguistic minorities office in Mumbai: Shiv Sena

The Centre has agreed to set up the western zone office of the assistant commission for linguistic minorities in Mumbai, instead of re-establishing it at Belagavi, Shiv Sena leader Arvind Sawant said in New Delhi on Thursday.

A delegation of Shiv Sena MPs led by senior leader Sanjay Raut met Minority Affairs Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and requested him to set up the office in Mumbai.

"Naqvi has assured us to locate the office in Mumbai and urged the Shiv Sena leaders to impress upon the Maharashtra government to provide space for the same," Sawant said.

The office was originally located in Mumbai but was shifted to Belagavi after the Maharashtra-Karnataka boundary dispute flared up. However, due to a shortage of staff, recently, the Belagavi office was merged with the South Divisional at Chennai. Several leaders from Maharashtra also demanded re-establish at Belagavi.

With Shiv Sena MPs demanding to shift office from Chennai to Mumbai, the Union Minister agreed, Sawant said.

“Does the government expect linguistic minorities from Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa, Dadra, Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu and Karnataka to travel all the way to Chennai to seek redressal of their grievances?” the Shiv Sena leader asked.

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