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Congressmen protest in front of the district collectorate in Jamshedpur on Saturday. Picture by Bhola Prasad
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Jamshedpur, Sept. 22: More than 4,000 Congress activists descended on the district collectorate in Sakchi today, the show of strength leading to a traffic nightmare on the Subernarekha Link Road for over four hours.
The agitation, planned as a precursor to party general secretary Rahul Gandhi’s two-day visit to Ranchi and Bokaro on September 25-26, was organised by local Congress leaders to display its influence here.
The activists did not squat on the roads and block traffic. But, since a large number of activists were moving around on the road between 10.30am to 2.30pm, traffic was disrupted. Trucks and several other vehicles were forced to take a detour via Sakchi.
East Singhbhum district Congress president Rabindra Kumar Jha claimed that the agitation did not affect traffic. He, however, admitted that the presence of a large number of people led to a congestion near the district collectorate.
“So far there have been dharnas by BJP and JVM. But, ours was the biggest in terms of attendance. Activists’ presence on the road may have led to traffic diversions,” he said.
A delegation of Congress leaders, including state party president Pradeep Balmuchu, Jamshedpur West MLA Banna Gupta and district president Rabindra Jha, submitted a memorandum to East Singhbhum DC Himani Pande.
Their plea was addressed to President Pranab Mukherjee to demand the resignation of chief minister Arjun Munda in view of the recently tabled CAG report alleging financial irregularities to the tune of Rs 1,396 crore.
The Congress activists demanded a CBI inquiry into coal block allocations of the state government and the Tata lease agreement of 2005.
They also asked the Munda government to follow the example of Congress ruled states and increase the cap on subsidised LPG gas cylinders from six to nine and reduce VAT on diesel. “We will also want ownership rights for 86 urban slum dwellers, starting of delayed drinking water projects at Bagbera, Birsanagar and Mango and a probe into irregularities in the state’s BPL lists,” said Rabindra Jha.
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