Residents gather near Birsa Munda’s statue on Saturday, a day after it was desecrated in Jamshedpur. (Bhola Prasad)

Jamshedpur, Sept. 20: Outrage over desecration of a statue of tribal icon Birsa Munda led to a blockade of Baridih-Telco road at Birsanagar near Telco for nearly four hours today.

Around 200 residents staged the blockade at 8am, demanding the arrest of the culprits involved in last night’s vandalism. The 11-feet high statue on Birsa Hill depicts the tribal icon with a bow and arrows in a quiver. The left hand was damaged along with the bow and its string.

The blockade was removed around noon after SDO Dhalbhum Prem Ranjan assured protesters belonging to Birsa Seva Dal that the statue would be repaired and the culprits brought to book.

He also agreed to their demand of demarcating the land around Birsa Hill, which is around 100 feet high, and constructing a boundary wall to prevent such incidents from occurring again.

The seva dal, along with Congress and BJP, have lodged a complaint at Birsanagar police station, naming Pawan Sahu, Vijay Singh and Kunti Sahu for their involvement in the desecration.

“These three persons have been staying at Birsa Hill and have started encroaching on the land. We want the police to investigate the matter and arrest those involved in the act. We have named the three suspects. Now, it is for the administration to act,” said Kunjal Lakra, the convener of the Birsa Seva Dal Panchayat Samiti.

He threatened to resume their agitation if the administration did not fulfil its promise of repairing the statue, constructing the boundary wall, and most important, arresting the guilty whom they had named.

“Birsa Munda is revered as a god by tribals. The administration garlands the bust on the birth and death anniversaries of the tribal freedom fighter. This is the first time that such a heinous incident has happened since the installation of the statue in 1979,” said Lakra.

Birsa Seva Dal installed the statue in June 1979 at a cost of Rs 16 lakh, while the staircase leading to the statue on the hill was constructed by Jamshedpur Notified Area Committee in 2010 using funds provided by Jamshedpur East MLA Raghubar Das.

Later, SDO Ranjan said Jamshedpur Notified Area Committee (JNAC) had been asked to repair the statue at the earliest. “Jamshedpur circle office will conduct a survey of the land and carry out demarcation after which JNAC will construct a boundary wall across the Birsa Hill so that such incidents do not recur,” he said.

City SP Karthik S said adequate number of security personnel had been deployed at Birsa Hill and the local police station had been asked to conduct regular patrolling of the area.