Police use water cannon to disperse BJD activists outside Odisha Assembly

Bhubaneswar, Sep 23 (PTI) Police used water cannon to disperse BJD activists outside the Odisha Assembly during the opposition party's 'Vidhan Sabha Ghearo' programme here, demanding rollback of a decision to empower officers after curtailing the rights of elected three-tier panchayati raj institution functionaries.

Thousands of BJD activists assembled at the Mahatma Gandhi Marg here and attempted to enter the Assembly building. Tension erupted when the agitators broke two security barricades near the Assembly and attempted to remove the third one on their way to the Assembly building, an officer said.

The demonstrators were prevented by the police near the third barricade, leading to a scuffle between them. To bring the situation to normalcy, the police used water cannon and picked up several demonstrators, the officer said.

BJD leaders alleged that the BJP government has empowered Block Development Officers (BDOs) and engineers financially, thereby curtailing the power of elected PRI functionaries. They alleged that the government took this decision as above 90 per cent of the panchayat posts were being held by BJD leaders or village-level leaders supported by the party.

"The BJP government is all set to destroy the Panchayati Raj system in Odisha. The government, in a recent decision, has raised the financial power of officers, thus demeaning the power of the elected peoples representatives. We have been demanding a rollback of the decision," said BJD deputy leader in the Assembly, Prasanna Acharya. PTI BBM AAM AAM RG