Odisha youth on dharna in Delhi picked up by police

Bhubaneswar: Odisha’s Muktikanta Biswal, who was on dharna in New Delhi from this morning after he failed to get appointment from Prime Minister’s Office to meet PM Narendra Modi, has been picked up by police this evening.

Delhi Police has picked up Muktikanta while he was staging a sit-in at Jantar Mantar in the national capital.

Sources revealed that Muktikanta didn’t have the permission to stage dharna at Jantar Mantar, which was banned by the National Green Tribunal (NGT) for holding any protests citing violation of environmental laws.

Earlier, he had sought permission from the Sansad Marg police to stage dharna at Jantar Mantar. After his application got rejected, he approached the police for demonstration at the historical Ramlila Ground. However, the authorities turned down his application for the peaceful protest.

Holding tricolour and carrying a bag, Muktikant, a youth from Odisha’s Steel City, started journey on foot from Rourkela on April 16 and reached Delhi covering a distance of 1350 km to meet Modi to remind him of his promises made to public of his hometown during 2014 elections.

While his journey and mission was well praised by the media and opposition parties across the country, Union Minister Jual Oram, who represents Sundergarh Lok Sabha constituency, criticised him alleging the padayatra as the ‘Congress Sponsored’.

However, BJP legislator Dilip Ray came in support of the young man terming his spirit as ‘indomitable’ on social networking site Facebook.