Residents of Bahanaga block under the banner of the Bahanaga Tehsil Sangram Samiti have threatened to intensify their agitations over the demand of setting up of a tehsil office in the block.
The disgruntled residents, including women and students, under the banner of various forums have been staging agitations in the block in phased manner. They are sitting on a dharana for 63 days to press for their demand, while banks, post offices and other institutions have remain closed protesting against establishment of tehsil office at Paikasta and demanding the same at Bahanaga.
Notably, a tehsil office was opened at Paikasta near Gopalpur on August 18 after a prolonged dispute of about four years between the residents of Gopalpur and Bahanaga. It was established at the block under the policy that each block will have a tehsil office.
“In no way we will accept the tehsil office at Paikasta. The Bahanga venue has all facilities, including better connectivity beside the NH-5,” said an agitator. “We have submitted a number of memorandums to all concerned through the district Collector. On September 22, we had a discussion with the Revenue Minster in Bhubaneswar and received a positive response from him,” said another local.
They also threatened to stage demonstration in Bhubaneswar to draw the attention of the State Government and further resort to Jail Bharo Andolan, if their demands are not fulfilled.