Congressmen lathicharged after clash

CUTTACK: Several persons were injured when Congress activists clashed with police during a protest demonstration in the City on the Cuttack Municipal Corporation (CMC) office premises here on Thursday over appalling state of civic facilities.  Trouble erupted when hundreds of Congress workers, led by City unit president, Md. Mokim tried to enter the CMC campus to submit a memorandum to the authorities. They were stopped by the police and a scuffle ensued.  The pushing and shoving soon turned into a pitched battle as police resorted to lathicharge to disperse the workers who retaliated with heavy stone pelting. Windowpanes, furniture and flower pots in  the CMC were damaged.  The clash went on for more than an hour. Around 41 Congressmen, including Mokim, former minister Bijoyalaxmi Sahoo and women’s unit leader Giribala Behera were arrested by police.  State Congress president Niranjan Patnaik condemned the lathicharge stating that it was premeditated and carried out by the police at the behest of the ruling BJD. “Attempts to curtail democratic rights of opposition will lead to intensification of agitation,” he warned.  Mokim said, “We had planned to stage a protest demonstration in front of the CMC office and then submit a memorandum to the authorities over the fast deteriorating civic conditions in the City. But we were stopped from doing so by the police.” The Congress has charged BJD-ruled CMC with utterly failing in improving condition of roads, drains and lighting in the City. Usually, all road and drain repair works are completed before the Durga Puja festival. But this year, there has been no headway and the roads and drains are in miserable shape, the party alleged. The CDA Markat Nagar epitomises the neglect of the civic body and city urban planning agency. The planned residential zone has been transformed into one of the most “uninhabitable pockets of the City”, with roads pocked with potholes, choked drains, dark lanes and absence of safe drinking water, the workers stated in their nine-point memorandum. Mayor Soumendra Ghosh lashed out at the Congress stating they resorted to vandalism in the name of protest. “They could have conducted their demonstration peacefully outside the CMC compound and submitted the memorandum through representatives. But they chose to barge into the campus and indulge in violence when stopped by police,” he countered.