Congress to stage road blockade at district headquarters against govt’s apathy

Bhubaneswar: The Odisha unit of Congress on Sunday announced to resort to two-hour road blockade at all district headquarters on Monday protesting against the anti-tribal policies of the state government.

ST & SC Cell president of Odisha Congress, Pradeep Majhi said the party will stage road blockade in all district headquarters over several issues including Rs 12 lakh compensation to Japanese Encephalitis victim families and recruitment of doctors in the tribal district.

It will stage road blockade for 2 hours from 10 am to 12 noon on Monday.

Majhi said the Chief Minister’s move of announcing Rs 3 lakh exgratia for the JE victims is just a political gimmick ahead of Panchayat polls. He also raised the Gumudumaha issue, where five innocent tribals were gunned down by security persons in the name of Maoists.

However, BJD spokesperson Pratap Deb said Majhi is just doing politics on every possible issue keeping an eye on the Panchayat elections.

He said the state government is always concerned for the well-being of the tribal communities in Odisha.

It may be mentioned here that Pradeep Majhi along with some other Congress workers is on an indefinite hunger strike since December 21 in front of the Raj Bhavan here demanding Rs 12 lakh compensation for the tribal families who lost their children to the killer Japanese Encephalitis disease.