A BJP activist tries to stop Speaker Alamgir Alam’s motorcade on Kanke Road in Ranchi on Wednesday and (below) a para-teacher vents ire at the Kanke Road Chowk. Pictures by Prashant Mitra

Ranchi, Nov. 12: Demonstrations virtually united para-teachers and politicians in the state capital today.

The BJP activists and the agitating para-teachers today laid siege to the chief minister’s residence in support of their demands for compensation to the kin of the Maharashtra violence victims and better work condition, respectively, disrupting traffic movement on the Kanke Road for several hours.

Even as the state government threatened the teachers on strike since November 1 to invoke under Essential Services Maintenance Act, the para-teachers are firm on their demand and gradually intensifying their movement. They even vowed today to show black flags to chief minister Shibu Soren during the foundation day celebrations at the Morabadi grounds on November 15.

Soren agreed later in the day to hold a meeting with the teachers on November 20 to consider their demand. Finance minister Stephen Marandi and human resource development minister Bandhu Tirkey will also be participating in the meeting.

The district administration, however, had a tough time in pacifying the teachers as and the BJP activists.

The officials tried their best to prevent the BJP workers from reaching the chief minister’s residence through different routes, but some of them led by legislator Raghubar Das managed to reach the Kanke Road Chowk and squatted on a dharna.

Das started a hunger strike demanding compensation to the kin of the victims and safety of migrants working in different parts of Maharashtra. He ended his fast after being given positive assurances by the administration.

The BJP legislator said that the state government has promised Rs 50,000 compensation to the kin of the victims even as he was demanding Rs 2 lakh, which has already been given by the Bihar government. He also expected the chief minister to take up the issue with his Maharashtra counterpart to ensure that the culprits were taken to task.

The family members of the hate campaign victims — Ramu Das and M. Rajeshwar — accompanied the BJP activists.

Ramu’s widow lamented that despite being given positive assurances by the chief minister himself, she had so far only been given 50kg rice, 15kg potato and Rs 5,000. The widow now has to fend for her three minor children and two more dependents, including the mother and the sister of the deceased.

Rajeshwar’s mother Laxmi Kanta said that her son worked at a steel plant in Raigarh district of Maharashtra. He was burnt alive. She was yet to be given any compensation.