The ailing two Congress leaders, who were on an indefinite hunger strike in front of the defunct Sarala spinning mill near Tirtol demanding its reopening, called off their stir on Monday after they were hospitalised for deteriorating health conditions.
Er Himansu Mallick and Jyotee Ranjan Mallick were pressing for a five point charter of demands before the State Government.
Himansu and Jyotee Ranjan drank fruit juice from two former spinning mill employees Nrusingh Kandi and Duroydhan Sahoo in the presence of a few Congress leaders and officials.
Earlier a high drama was witnessed at the site of the indefinite hunger strike launched by the Congress leaders on Sunday midnight as police dispersed the protestors and drove out Himansu and Jyotee Ranjan who had been on the hunger strike for last eight days. Later the duo was admitted in the district headquarters hospital [DHH] at Jagatsinghpur.
On Monday evening the district officials showed the two ailing leaders an assurance letter from Textile and Handloom Principal Secretary Aurobinda Padhy who agreed to act over promptly on the Sarala spinning mill revival. As a consequence, the agitators agreed to withdraw their fast. Earlier, officials from the civil administration, Revenue Department and senior police officers had visited the agitation site and convinced the agitators to end the stir.
The agitators ignored repeated pleas insisting they would leave only after fulfillment of the demands. Then police swung into action, picked up the duo and dispersed the other agitators from the site. A few agitators complained that they were manhandled by the cops.
Earlier Tirtol Congress leaders led by Er Mallick had submitted a memorandum carrying signatures of thousands of people before Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and launched a Pada Yatra from Tirtol to Bhubaneswar demanding to first make the spinning mill debt free. The mill has been recently occupied by lender, the State Bank of India.