Supriya Sule, MP and daughter of Union Minister Sharad Pawar, has decided to undertake a padyatra to raise awareness about the alarming decline in child sex ratio and high incidence of female foeticide in Maharashtra.
The padyatra will be held from August 25 to 28.
Around 500 women in the age group of 18 to 24, accompanied by Ms. Sule, will walk about 70 km from Naigaon in Satara district — the birthplace of Savitribai Phule — to Koregaon in Pune.
“On the 28th, around 3,000 girls will take the oath that when they get married, they will not undergo sonographic examination for [determining the sex],” Ms. Sule told journalists here on Wednesday.
Patil to participate
State Home Minister R.R. Patil and his daughter were also expected to participate on the first day, according to Ms. Sule. Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan will be attending a workshop on the issue.
Ms. Sule said men were also welcome to participate in the drive. “We will be holding debates, discussions and competitions in colleges. We have to work towards equality. This is an emotional as well as economic issue,” she said.
Asked to comment on reports about her alleged proposal for a lake city tourism project on the lines of Lavasa, Ms. Sule denied having ever made it.
“I think the media adores my family. We are a family that sells well. Reports keep cropping up and they die in due course,” she said.
She apologised for the vandalism perpetrated by Nationalist Congress Party supporters upon a Nashik cinema theatre screening the movie Delhi Belly.
