Demanding a ban on cow slaughtering, the Hanuman Jayanti Samanwaya Samity (HJSS) on Friday sat in a 12-hour hunger strike at Gole Bazar Chowk.
Members of HJSS along with BJP and VHP members took part in the stir. Former Chairman of Sambalpur Municipality Girish Patel, Manas Baksi, Sisir Bahidar, Kartik Bahidar, Siv Agrawal, Siv Diwan and many other leaders of the organisation warned the local administration that if cow slaughter was not stopped completely, they would go for Sambalpur Bandh.
“Even we will not hesitate to take law into hands if administration will fail to control the unruly elements engaged in cow slaughter,” threatened Girish Patel.
The agitators also demanded a modern Gosala for 2,000 cows, demolition of illegal slaughter houses in the city, and a judicial inquiry into the nexus of the Sambalpur SP and IIC Dhanupali with the crime syndicate.
The organisation brought a series of allegations against the district SP saying that he has joined hands with criminals. They further alleged that if the members of the organisation protested cow slaughtering, the local police were booking them in dacoity cases.
Contacted, Sambalpur SP B Gangadhar said all the allegations against him are baseless. “The law and order situation in Sambalpur is quite satisfactory. At the same time, we have also registered maximum number of cases as regards cow slaughtering and cow smuggling,” he said..