Berhampur: Demand for merger of suburban areas on the outskirts of Berhampur Municipal Corporation (BeMC) area and the formation of Berhampur district has gained momentum with people from various walks of life raising their voices over the issue.
Recently, a peaceful protest meeting was held near the Gandhi statue in Gandhinagar against the government’s indifference and callousness in implementing the Orissa High Court judgment regarding the merger of suburban areas into BeMC fold and the creation of Berhampur district.
President Sanjeev Kumar Patnaik, vice president Devi Prasad Das, joint secretary Sudesh Kumar Pote, organisational secretary Srikanth Padhihari and assistant secretary BV Sagar addressed the gathering. Claiming that BeMC is the smallest municipal corporation in India, the speakers addressing the meeting alleged that the government has neglected Berhampur residents as it never implemented its promise to form a larger civic body by including 18 suburban panchayats into the fold of BeMC based on the gazette notification of 2008. They alleged that they have been agitating for the last 12 years, but the government is not paying any heed to their demand. Even though there was a clear directive from the Orissa High Court, the government continued to ignore it, causing dissatisfaction and anger among the local residents.
Notably, all ministers including the Chief Minister, secretaries and other officials have been apprised of their demand by the city-level joint action committee. A delegation of the committee met the then 5T Secretary and submitted a memorandum to him regarding the merger of suburban areas with BeMC, district status to Berhampur and construction of Brajnagar tower line road when he visited Berhampur and Gopalpur constituencies in August. The then 5T Secretary had announced in the meeting the steps being taken in this regard and promised to inform them of the developments within one month. But neither the government nor the office of the present 5T Chairman has given any information to the committee ever since.
Similarly, before the elections in 2019, when the state government was mulling over formation of a new district, a demand letter was given to the state government by the committee regarding the formation of Berhampur district. They warned of intensifying their protests and holding demonstrations every week in various parts of the Silk City