Maha govt has shown complete disregard towards Acharekar, says Sena MP Raut

Expressing distress over Sachin Tendulkar's coach Ramakant Achrekar not being accorded a state funeral, Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut Friday asked the master blaster to boycott government programmes in future. "Why wasn't Padma Shri and Dronacharya awardee Ramakant Acharekar given a state funeral and respect by the Maharashtra government? The government has shown complete disregard towards Ramakant Acharekar.

Sachin Tendulkar should boycott government programmes henceforth," Raut tweeted. Achrekar (87) died of age-related ailments Wednesday. A senior Maharashtra minister Thursday said Achrekar not being given a state funeral was due to a "communication gap" at the government level. Maharashtra Housing Minister Prakash Mehta, who represented the state government at the funeral of the celebrated cricket coach, said Achrekar not being given a state funeral was "sad and unfortunate".

Meanwhile, heaping praise on Achrekar for his outstanding contribution in shaping the lives of cricketers like Tendulkar, Vinod Kambli, Balwinder Singh, Chandrakant Pandit, Pravin Amre, Sanjay Bangar and Ramesh Powar, the Sena, in an editorial in party mouthpiece 'Saamana', said the government not according to a state funeral was "troubling" and "harrowing". "The government forgot to fulfil its responsibility and accord a state funeral to the great Acharya and blamed it on a communication gap. It is as much troubling as it is harrowing," the Sena said. The Sena, however, stressed that not being accorded a state funeral did not lessen Achrekar's contribution to the game in any way but only exposed the inefficiency of the government.

(With inputs from agencies.)