Bhubaneswar: Senior BJP leader and Bhubaneswar MP Aparajita Sarangi has sought Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s intervention to restore peace and normalcy in violence-hit Padmakesharipur on the city outskirts.
Voicing concern over the situation in the village in Bhubaneswar (North) Assembly segment where over 150 locals have been put in jail in the last three months following a group clash, the parliamentarian wrote a letter to Naveen urging him to take immediate steps to bring back normalcy in the area.
Aparajita, who had recently visited Padmakesharipur village under Mancheswar police limits, found the situation in the violence-hit village very pathetic.
Stating that around 150 villagers were arrested and lodged in jail for the past three months after a group clash, the BJP leader urged the government to ascertain the cause of the clash and form a peace committee to restore normalcy in the village.
“The village lies just 16 km from Odisha Secretariat. It is pathetic to behold the sight of the few residents in the village. A terrible atmosphere of fear, insecurity, and pathos is seen and felt. Police action might have been necessary. However, it was all the more required on the part of the state government to get at the root cause of the problem and form peace committee immediately,” she said.
Stating that restoration of normalcy should have been the prime agenda of the state government in such a situation, the BJP MP said three months have passed, villagers are in jail, but no visible action for restoration of normalcy by the state government is seen.
As per reports, the male members in families started leaving village out of fear following a clash erupted between the locals of Talasahi and Majhisahi in Padmakesharipur village in Patia area allegedly over a past rivalry in September. The situation turned worse on October 26 night when the two groups indulged in brawl again attacking each other with stones, fatal weapons leaving over 20 villagers injured.
The Commissionerate Police imposed section 144 around the village, deployed force and took many people into custody to bring the situation under control.
