A large number of Gaon Saathis under the banner of the Gaon Saathi Sangha Milita Kriyanushan Committee led by its president Soubhagya Mishra and secretary Laxmidhar Biswal staged a demonstration in front of the State Assembly here on Sunday demanding fulfilment of their four demands at the earliest.
They demanded provision of incentive of over Rs 6,000 per month for each Gaon Saathi and a five-year package of all Gaon Saathis, creation of a corpus fund to provide financial support to Gaon Saathis getting work for less than 15 days in a year and direct intervention of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik for fulfillment of their demands.
Mishra and Biswal said Gaon Saathis are leading very miserable lives as Government hasn’t fulfilled their legitimate demands yet. The Chief Minister should hold talks with the inter-Ministerial Committee members and fulfil their demands as soon as possible, they demanded. Among others, Sangh treasurer Pratap Mallick, Chanchala Behera, Sabita Sahu, Sushila Nayak, Kumudini Pati, Lalita Das, Gagandhar Sahoo, Bidyadhar Bhoi, Sanatan Mallick, Shashadhar Sethi, Hemant Nayak, Sudhansu Satpathy, Pabitra Sundray, Kulamani Menta and Ramesh Rana were present.
Twenty-five of Gaon Sathis stared sitting on a hunger strike on the day more would sit from Monday till demands are met, said Biswal.