After political leaders and college students, the lawyers of Cuttack city on Wednesday joined the bandwagon protesting against the discrimination meted out to the city in evaluating its capability to be included as a potential Smart City.

The Union Government’s ambitious project for different cities in the country seems to be eluding the Millennium City by a “conspiracy” hatched both by the NDA Government at the Centre and the ruling BJD in the State, alleged the Congress on the day holding a massive rally and submitting memorandum to the President of India through the district Collector.

Members of all the ten bars in the city, including that of the High Court, abstained from court works and took out a procession. led by High Court Bar Association president Dr Ashok Mohapatra, hundreds of lawyers submitted separate memorandums to the RDC, the Collector and the Member, Board of Revenue.

The memorandums pointed out that a faulty evaluation process was adopted to select the potential Smart Cities of the State. Both political parties and bureaucrats were engaged in a conspiracy to belittle the status of Millennium City Cuttack, which had served as the capital of the State for more than 950 years.

“We have decided to continue our agitation indefinitely, and if the State Government does not amend its way in discriminating against the city by August 3, we would be forced to hit the roads,” threatened HC bar body general secretary Bijay Kumar Ragad. He appealed to other bars of the city to continue their support on the issue.

Sources said the State Government has decided to recommend the names of Bhubaneswar, Rourkela, Brahmapur, Sambalpur and Cuttack as the potential Smart Cities whereas the Union Ministry of Urban Development has decided to adopt only two cities from the State in this ambitious project.