Residents of at least five villages strongly protested the Ganjam district administration's decision to close the Bhavinipur-MKCG Medical road on the plea of freeing encroachments.
Villagers of Bhavinipur, Sidharth Nagar, Vijay Vihar, Bank Colony and Basudev Nagar took out a massive rally from the Bhavinipur Square and moved around the city to reach the RDC office. They submitted a seven-point charter of demands, including withdrawal of the road closure decision.
"Before land was acquired for the MKCG Medical, there was a road to Bhavinipur and Goulundi which was mainly used for cultivation works. Cards were plying on the road and it was used for public communication since 1971. If the road is closed, thousands of students, patients, particularly pregnant women, and businessmen who come daily to the city will face problem. Hence, the decision to close the road should be withdrawn," they urged.
District Collector Prem Chandra Choudhury, who was present at the time of submission of memorandum, assured that a special meeting will be held on the issue and a further decision would be taken.
Among others, Ranjit Nayak, Aditya Patnaik, Ram Patro, Krushna Raul, laxmikant Satpathy and Bishwanath Sahu led the protest meeting.
