Kendrapara: A day after anti-liquor activists installed two statues of Mahatma Gandhi in front of two liquor shops here as part of a protest, miscreants removed one of the statues from the pedestal.
Tension prevailed in the locality Wednesday with locals condemning the act.
Duhuria-Bazaar Committee and Nisa Nibarana Samiti, an anti-liquor outfit of Jamdhar panchayat brought the matter to the notice of the collector and IIC of Sadar police station. They lodged an FIR alleging a liquor trader and his henchmen removed the statue Tuesday night.
IIC Padarbinda Tripathy rushed to the spot and took stock of the situation. “A case has been registered and a probe is on,” he said.
Meanwhile, the bazaar committee members under the fold of Nisa Nibaran Samiti of Jamadhar staged an agitation near the dismantled pedestal demanding re-installation of the statute and action against the miscreants.
According to reports, after their pleas seeking closure of two licensed liquor shops at Duhuria Chowk, the entrance road to Kendrapara, failed to yield results, people of the locality with the help of the Bazaar Committee and Nisha Nibaran Samiti Tuesday expressed their protest in a unique way by installing two statues of Mahatma Gandhi in front of the shops.
Locals said the liquor shops were responsible to a great extent for all sorts of anti-social activities in the locality. Besides, girls and women passing by the road often faced harassment from alcoholics, they added.
Despite taking up the matter with the district administration, nothing was done to address the issue, the protesters alleged. Finally, they decided to install the statues of Gandhi in front of the liquor shops to express their protest and draw the administration’s attention.
The people of the panchayat and the bazaar committee contributed money for construction of the statues. The statues were unveiled by Nibedita Samal, chairperson of Kendrapara Panchayat Samiti, and Gandhian leader Kumar Chandra Mishra Tuesday. PNN
