Odisha Energy minister’s house vandalized, 30 detained  

BHUBANESWAR: The Commissionerate Police in Odisha on Friday detained at least 30 persons for allegedly ransacking and hurling eggs at the residence of Energy minister Pranab Prakash Das in the capital city.

Police said the agitating family members of deceased employees of the energy department went on a rampage by damaging some wooden furniture and smashing all the earthen flower pots kept in the garden.

They also broke the window panes of the minister’s house, said police.

The agitating persons, which tried to lay siege to the residence of the minister, consists of agitating family members of deceased employees of the department, who are on a dharna at lower PMG area here demanding jobs on compassionate grounds.

The agitators were protesting in front of the Surya Nagar residence of the minister. But, they suddenly turned violent and pelted eggs, potatoes, stones and broke flower pots, glasses and window panes of the house.

About 300 people were on a dharna at lower PMG area of Bhubaneswar here demanding jobs on compassionate grounds.

“We have been staging protests peacefully for the last four months and have not resorted to any violence. But when the government became a silent spectator to our sufferings, we had no option but to take this route,” an agitator said.

However, the minister said he would not register any case against them for ransacking his house and assured the agitating family members to take steps according to gazette notification and following legal procedure to compensate the affected families.

The agitators had on Thursday burnt the effigy of the minister and had tonsured their heads as Hindus do after the death of someone.

The Orissa Civil Service (Rehabilitation Scheme) Rules, 1990, enjoins upon the government the responsibility to ensure that family members of a Government servant who dies while in service or retires after facing permanent incapacitation do not face immediate distress condition.