Balasore: Nearly 15 hours after sitting on a hunger strike following his verbal duel with the local tehsildar over an eviction drive, Nilagiri MLA Sukanta Nayak broke his fast and strike early Saturday morning.
Nayak and his supporters were sitting at Nilagiri sub-collector’s office on the strike alleging misbehavior by the tehsildar during the demolition of stamp vendors’ makeshift huts at a local court premises.
Balasore collector K Sudarshan Chakraborty reached the sub-collector’s office at about 11:00pm and held a discussion with Nayak. Hours later, Nayak ended his hunger strike by taking juice. Thereafter he visited the pulled down huts of the stamp vendors.
Sources said, stamp vendors had been running their business from some makeshift huts. Friday afternoon, some administrative officials arrived along with earthmover machines and started pulling down the huts.
On being informed, MLA Nayak rushed to the spot and asked tehsildar Sushrita Tuda to refrain from doing so without an alternative arrangement in place for the vendors. Angry exchanges ensued between Tudu and Nayak.
Exasperated at this, Nayak, some advocates and the affected stamp vendors started a hunger strike at the sub-collector’s office.
According to sub divisional police officer (SDPO) Sudam Charan Sahu, four separate cases over the issue have been registered at the Nilagiri police station.
PNN
