Hi-Tech identity mess-up row: AOSV gheraoes Health Minister’s residence; hurls tomatoes

Bhubaneswar: Incensed activists of All Odisha Students’ Voice (AOSV), a students’ outfit, gheraoed the government residence of Health Minister Niranjan Pujari in Bhubaneswar, today.

They opposed the gas cylinder blast incident that recently occurred in Hi-Tech Hospital here and also the subsequent identity mess-up of the tragedy victims terming it as ‘sheer neglect’ of the authorities concerned. Irate protesters even hurled tomatoes at Pujari’s residence.

“The Hospital owner Tirupati Panigrahi should immediately be arrested and the license of the health facility be cancelled as well,” the agitating AOSV activists demanded.

A source said that the activists took out a bike rally and reached the spot in the morning. They shouted slogans against the Health Minister and demanded Panigrahi’s arrest. A scuffle erupted between the on-duty policemen and agitators. This triggered tension for quite a long time.

Police picked up the activists and took them to elsewhere to control the law and order situation.

Earlier on Monday, the BJP state unit demanded a judicial probe into the fatal mishap in which three persons died. The students’ wing of Congress also staged a protest over the issue and hurled eggs at the official residence of the Health Minister.