Cuttack residents launch a postcard campaign to protest against shifting of government offices from Cuttack to Bhubaneswar on Saturday. Picture by Badrika Nath Das

Cuttack, Aug. 25: The residents of Cuttack, the former capital of Odisha, today protested against the move to shift major government offices from here.

More than 3,000 postcards were sent to chief minister Naveen Patnaik today requesting him to ensure that no “injustice” was done to the citizens.

Hundreds of people, under the aegis of Ama Katak, a people’s organisation, took out a rally from near Pantha Nivas and dropped postcards addressed to the chief minister at the general post office in Buxi Bazar.

The outfit is planning to send more than one lakh postcards demanding immediate steps for the protection of historical sites that are lying in neglect in the city.

“People from different walks of life have joined the campaign since there has been a deliberate attempt to shift major offices from Cuttack to Bhubaneswar,” said advocate Prasanna Nanda.

Members of Ama Katak alleged that there was a deliberate attempt move to shift the office of the director-general of police and some other important offices from Cuttack to Bhubaneswar.

They said that offices of mineral and material trading corporation and subordinate staff selection commission have already shifted to Bhubaneswar.

Pro-Cuttack activists alleged that there has been an attempt over the last 60 years to bring down the image Cuttack, which had been the capital of Odisha for more than 950 years. The capital was shifted to Bhubaneswar in 1965.

Nanda said the commissionerate police system was introduced in Odisha by merging Cuttack and Bhubaneswar because the new capital did not have enough population to qualify for a commissionerate.

However, a camp office of the police commissioner of the twin cities was yet to be opened in Cuttack.

The pro-Cuttack activists also want the Centre to take steps to include Cuttack in Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission.