City Corporators belonging to opposition parties staged a dharna in front of Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) here on Thursday demanding justice to the reporter, who was attacked at the Unit-I Market recently, and arrest of corrupt persons involved in the illegality in Pindi (stall) allotment to vendors.
Notably, a reporter of an Odia news channel had been attacked by some miscreants at a Press meet called by Unit-I Hata Byabasahi Sangha three days ego.
Corporators demanded cancellation of business licences and closing of illegally allotted stalls for smoothening of investigation.
Corporator Jyoshnamayee Jena said action should be taken against the culprits who attacked the reporter and proper investigation should be conducted to check corruption. There is no point in carrying out an inquiry at the BMC level, the Corporator said.
In its bid to end Corporator-contractor nexus, the BMC had in 2013 replaced the civic works contract (CWC) system by the tendering process. Under CWC, small jobs like maintenance of footpaths, street lights, stall selling and road repair were carried out through valid decision, while tendering system hijacked by BJD goons, alleged Corporator Raghunath Mahanty.