Pumping Water Into NHAI Office: 3 Cong Activists Detained

Bhubaneswar: Protesting the detention of three party workers, the Congress activists on Tuesday staged a demonstration in front of the Nayapalli Police Station here.

The Congress activists, led by the president of Bhubaneswar District Congress Committee Manas Choudhury and senior leader Suresh Routray, had barged into the office of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) at Unit-8 area on Monday and pumped water inside it while protesting against unprecedented waterlogging in the Odisha capital.

Following the complaint by the NHAI authorities, Nayapalli police picked up three Congress workers late in the late and detained them at the police station.

Talking to mediapersons here, Choudhury said since the authorities of the NHAI, Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) and the Works department are least concerned for the city denizens who spend sleepless nights due to waterlogging in their house, the party pumped in water at the NHAI office to remind of their duties and responsibility.

“We are ready to go to jail to safeguard the rights of the people of the capital city,” he added.

It may be mentioned that the Iskcon temple area in Nayapalli on National Highway-16 had turned into an artificial pond following heavy rain in the afternoon of June 30. While several four-wheelers were seen floating on the clogged rainwater, some two-wheelers were completely submerged.