The villagers of Sasanka under Chhagaon panchayat who held dharna before the Sub-Collector office here since Monday morning demanding appointment of a regular PDS distributor in their village have proceeded to meet Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to ventilate their grievances.
They did so after the Athagarh Sub Collector told them that their demand could not be fulfilled now because of the Code of Conduct for the panchayat polls in February.
According to sources, one Upendra Sahoo who was appointed under political pressure since long ago was involved in several irregularities and after his removal, no replacement has been made.
The villagers had met the Sub-Collector here who had sacked Upendra on July 19, but tagged the villagers to collect the PDS goods from a distant place of about five km at Chhagaon. For settling their problems the villagers aired their grievances to Sub-Collector Harish Nayak and ACSO Nirad Ranjan Das who assured them to sort out their problem soon. However, after getting no response, over 100 villagers held dharna.
According to sources, for the last two days, both the Sub Collector and the ACSO remained absent. Police forces have been deployed at the spot where several women and children are also seen.
On Tuesday, however, the Sub-Collector met the persons in dharna.