Now, eggs pelted at Odisha Minister Devi Prasad Mishra

Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Bhubaneswar, Nov 6:

A day after eggs were pelted at Agriculture Minister Pradeep Maharathi’s vehicle in Odisha’s Nuapada, similar incident occurred at the state capital here today when some students lobbed eggs at School and Mass Education Minister Devi Prasad Mishra inside Utkal University campus.

As per reports, a group of eight to ten students came in front of minister’s vehicle and allegedly pelted eggs when the vehicle slowed down.

The students reportedly pelted eggs in protest against the infrastructural deficiencies in the varsity campus. The students had been demanding wi-fi campus since long and they resorted to egg pelting as their demands have not been fulfilled despite presenting memorandum to the authorities on numerous occasions.

The incident occurred few meters away from the varsity gate while the minister was on his way out after attending an international seminar organised by Kalinga Lanka Foundation in the campus auditorium.

“They are not looking into the developmental issues of the university. Party work was going on in the campus so we pelted eggs in protest against it,” Tarini Prasad, a student of the university said.

“The authorities have not looked into the demands we had presented to them. We came to know that the university is not going to be wi-fi. We pelted eggs in protest against it,” Subrat Behera, another varsity student said.

However, a students’ union leader claimed that no such incident has taken place in the campus.

“Some people were trying to throw eggs at the minister. They have been taken away by the police. I have no idea about the number of people being picked up by the police,” Dr Ashok Kumar Das, Vice-Chancellor of Utkal University said.

Meanwhile, two students have been detained at the Sahid Nagar police station for interrogation.

Governor SC Jamir, High Commissioner-Designate of Sri Lanka in India Esala Weerakoon, Tourism and Culture Minister Ashok Chandra Panda and BJD MP Baijayant Panda were present on the inaugural day of the two-day event in the campus.

Police have been deployed in the campus to prevent any untoward incident.