Bhubaneswar: Three village guards (gramrakhis) were injured, one of them critically, Thursday when the youth wing of Bharatiya Janata Party clashed with police while marching towards the state Assembly in protest against increasing unemployment in Odisha.
The Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) entered into a scuffle with security personnel while crossing barricades near the PMG square here.
The village guard who sustained grave injuries was identified as Chaitanya Mahali of Ramachandrapur under Bangiriposi police station limits of Mayurbhanj. He along with several other activists of Nikhila Utkala Gramarakshi Sangha has been protesting at PMG Square for the past several days. One of his colleagues who was also present at the spot told Orissa POST that police started cane-charging to disperse the BJP members following a scuffle with them. Cops also chased some activists who fled the scene after the lathicharge. Meanwhile, Some BJP activists while being chased by the police ran towards a tent where Mahali and others were on sitting. They were among seven people who were injured in the stampede. Mahali lost his consciousness after vomiting blood. The doctors declared his condition as ‘‘serious’’ and referred him to better treatment.”
Meanwhile, Commissioner of Police told Orissa Post that some gramarakshis who were injured during the scuffle were rescued by the policemen. He claimed that Mahali was rescued by his driver and PSO. “He did not vomit blood, but it was his betel-mixed saliva as he was chewing a paan,” he said.
“While over 22 lakh youth have registered themselves with the employment exchanges in the state since 2009, the state government has provided jobs to 26,000 persons in the last 10 years,” said Odisha unit BJYM president Tankadhar Tripathy.
“The state government had taken `100 from about 40,000 candidates to hold a job fair. But, it failed to conduct the fair so far,” he added.
The ruling party had promised to set up a Chief Minister’s Employment Generation Scheme under which a minimum of 150 youth from each gram panchayat would be imparted necessary skill training besides providing loan and subsidy linkage to them.
Meanwhile, the Biju Janata Dal said the saffron party has no right to speak about employment as Prime Minister Narendra Modi had promised to provide two crore jobs every year. “Where is the employment,” asked MLA Puspendra Singhdeo.
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