Demand For District Status To Padampur In Odisha’s Bargarh Intensifies, Farmers Stage Protest

Bargarh: The demand for district status to Padampur in Odisha’s Bargarh intensified with hundreds of people staging a demonstration against state government’s failure in fulfilling its promise on Monday.

The local people, mostly comprising the farmers, under the banner of Rajabodasambar Krushak Sangathan gathered in front of the sub-collector’s office in Padampur and staged a dharna. They raised slogans for district status to the sub-division and against the government’s failure in meeting their demand.

They pointed out that Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had assured at a public meeting before the by-election to Padampur Assembly constituency that the sub-division would get district status by the end of 2023. Though the year has ended, the promise has not been fulfilled and the district status remains elusive, they said.

“The chief minister misled us during the bypoll. He made a false promise only to get our votes in the election at the time. It reflects the government’s step-motherly attitude towards this region of the state,” said a member of the Sangathan.

The agitating farmers held a meeting before the sub-collector’s office where several members of the Sangathan spoke on their demand and reiterated to intensify their agitation in future.

During the meeting, some agitating people climbed to the roof of the sub-collector’s office and deleted the word ‘sub’ from the signboard as a mark of support for their demand for district collector office.