Stray violence mars BJP’s demonstrations in Odisha

Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Bhadrak/ Bhubaneswar, Jul 29:

Odisha unit of BJP today held demonstrations across the state to highlight the failure of State Government in NFSA card distribution, mismanagement of NFSA card refund process, Kandhamal shootout and malnourishment in Nagada among others.

Even though the demonstrations – observed across all 314 block headquarters as claimed by the party — were largely peaceful, party workers turned violent and ransacked the office of Bhadrak collector. While office furniture and windows of the rooms were damaged extensively, no one has been injured in the incident.

“Deserving beneficiaries were left out from the NFSA scheme; however, BJD led Odisha Government made sure to distribute the ration cards to party workers. Several uninformed ineligible beneficiaries have been arrested over procuring ration cards under NFSA. We want to question, why the mayor who resigned and the wife of the MLA who surrendered the card have not been arrested,” said BJP Vice President Samir Mohanty in Bhubaneswar.

BJD, on the other hand, said that the State Government is doing everything necessary to ensure that only eligible beneficiaries get the benefits under NFSA. It further condemned the violence by BJP workers.

“BJP workers today forcefully entered offices in Bhadrak, Dhenkanal and other places and vandalized public property apart from beating up the office staff. We condemn it,” said BJD Spokesperson Rabi Narayan Nanda.