Odisha govt bid to hide Namtara firing will fail: Congress

Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Cuttack, Mar 15:

Senior Congress leader Narasingh Mishra on Saturday said all attempts of the Odisha government to hide police firing in Namtara village in Kendrapara district on March 8 would fail.

“The evidence on police firing has clearly reflects the brutality of the police on the villagers. The truth will come out despite all attempts of the state government to hush up the matter”, Mishra told reporters after a delegation of the party led by him met the injured villagers at the SCB Medical College and Hospital here.

During interaction, the delegation heard the narrative of the injured villagers on the police brutality on them. It also collected information about the government apathy towards the treatment of the injured.

“The announcement of the state government on the free treatment of the injured villagers has turned out to be a farce. We are deeply concerned over the gross irresponsibility, apathy and inhuman attitude of the state government”, said the members of the delegation.

The delegation also discussed with Dr Pratap Rath, superintendent of SCB Medical College and Hospital; Principal Dr Prakash Mohapatra, and Dr Bhubanananda Maharara who are in charge of the treatment of the injured villagers.

However, the delegation had an exchange of words with some doctors who tried to convince that the injured villagers had not sustained bullet injuries.

The delegation later warned these doctors everything would be clear after the evidence is produced in the court.

The delegation also took note of the fact that after nine days of the incident, the doctors at the hospital have not yet extracted the bullets from the bodies of five patients.

Out of the nine patients admitted in the hospital, five are undergoing treatment in Surgery ward while four others have been admitted in the Trauma Care unit.

The delegation, comprising deputy leader of the Opposition Chiranjib Biswal and MLAs Prakash Behera, Debendranath Sharma and Prafulla Majhi, was accompanied by the City Congress president Mohd Moquim, PCC general secretary Suresh Mohapatra, Dharanidhar Nayak, Dharmananda Patra, Akash Bhuyan, Biwajit Das, Dipak Parida, Santosh Bal, Renubala Rout, Giribala Behera, Bankanidhi Behera, Nikunja Pasayat, Suryakanta Rout, Manas Parida, Sarat Sethi, Aryabir Lenka and Santosh Bhola.