Bhubaneswar: Activists of the Youth Congress scuffled with police while staging a protest outside the official residence of Odisha’s Commerce and Transport Minister Bibhuti Bhusan Jena in Bhubaneswar Saturday over the state government’s alleged “policy flip-flops” in enforcement of Pollution Under Control (PUC) certificate norms.
Hundreds of party activists led by Odisha Youth Congress president Ranjait Patra went on a bicycle rally towards the minister’s residence, and they were intercepted by police, following which a scuffle ensued between the agitators and the security personnel. Some of the activists were picked up by police, a senior official said.
The protestors strongly opposed the state government’s policy flip-flops on the enforcement of PUC norms.
“The minister first announced the ‘no PUC, no fuel’ policy from January 1. The people made queues before PUC centres, which are very few to handle thousands of vehicles. Later, keeping in view the public resentment, they shifted the deadline to February 1 and later till April 1. What is happening here? The minister is putting the people in trouble by frequently changing decisions,” Patra told reporters.
The Congress demanded the immediate withdrawal of the “No PUC, No Fuel” policy within three days.
“If the government does not roll back its anti-people policy, we will dump hundreds of vehicles in front of the chief minister’s and other ministers’ residences in Bhubaneswar,” Patra said, adding that the party activists will ensure that the Odisha ministers face protests across the state during their visits.
Odisha BJP’s youth wing president, Avilash Panda, alleged that the Congress was politicising the matter. The people who use vehicles need to abide by the PUC norms. The government has extended the deadline for the PUC certificate till April 1 in order to facilitate people in obtaining it smoothly.
OPCC president Bhakta Charan Das had on Friday strongly opposed the manner in which the state government enforces PUC norms. He alleged that the government allows the industries to create pollution and go scot free while imposing heavy penalty on public, mostly unemployed youths.
The Youth and Student wings of Biju Janata Das had also staged a protest against the state government’s PUC enforcement on Friday evening. Leader of Opposition Naveen Patnaik in post on X on Friday said, “The BJP government’s handling of the Pollution Under Control (PUC) Certificate enforcement has been marked by gross mismanagement and repeated policy flip-flops that have caused immense hardships and inconvenience to the common people of Odisha.”