Ajit Pawar downplays row with female IPS officer

Pune, Sept 17 (PTI) Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar on Wednesday sought to downplay the controversy over his mobile phone conversation with a female IPS officer regarding the excavation of the murum soil.

"The state government has decided not to levy royalty on murum mining if the material is used to build pathways for villagers to access their farms," Pawar said at the inauguration of the Revenue Department's 'Service Fortnight' programme in Pune in the presence of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Revenue Minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule..

In a lighter vein, Pawar told Bawankule that if the decision on royalty exemption had been taken a month earlier, the issue would not have escalated.

Addressing Pune Police Commissioner Amitesh Kumar, who was also present, Pawar jokingly asked him to convey the revenue department's decision to his subordinates as well as to the Solapur Police.

A video had surfaced earlier this month of Ajit Pawar purportedly chiding Anjana Krishna, sub-divisional police officer, Karmala, who was in the midst of taking action against illegal excavation of ‘murrum’ soil in Solapur district.

Facing flak, he clarified that he didn't mean to interfere but was trying to defuse a tense situation. PTI SPK NSK