Policemen wield the stick on Congress activists at the CMC office in Cuttack on Thursday. Picture by Badrika Nath Das

Cuttack, Sep 22: Congress activists ransacked the Cuttack Municipal Corporation (CMC) office today and police had to lathicharge to disperse the mob.

The incident happened when Congress workers were staging a protest against the bad conditions of city roads and corruption in the civic body. More than 100 Congress workers were taken into custody following clashes with the police.

While two CMC officials were said to be injured in stone-pelting, the Congress party claimed that nearly two dozen of its workers were injured in the lathicharge.

Cuttack mayor Saumendra Ghose said two motorcycles, glass windows and iron grills around the building were damaged in the incident. The mob dumped garbage on the statue of former chief minister Biju Patnaik installed on the CMC campus.

Later, the mayor, BJD councillors and corporation employees staged a demonstration in protest against the “insult” to the statue of Biju Patnaik by the Congress activists.

The mayor also claimed that he, along with CMC officials, were ready to receive a delegation of protestors and discuss civic problems with the Congress leaders. But before a discussion could take place, Congress workers turned violent.

Around 200 Congress activists, led by city Congress president Mohammad Moquim, were staging a demonstration when, all of a sudden, they broke the security cordon, went inside the CMC building and began ransacking property.

When the cops intervened, the activists started pelting stones at the policemen. Eventually, the police resorted to lathicharge to disperse the mob.

The Congress party alleged that despite several rounds of discussions, the authorities had done very little to repair the roads and take measures to provide better sanitation despite the Dussehra festival being just a few weeks away.

“Roads have turned into death traps. We were staging the protest peacefully, but the police attacked us,” said Moquim.

“It was a cheap political stunt and we condemn the Congress’s action,” said Ghose, adding that the Congress had informed him about the demonstration only on Wednesday evening.

“The Congress is aware that they cannot come to power in the next 15 years in the state. Hence, they are resorting to such cheap politics. We want stern action against those involved in today’s violence,” Ghose said.