Traffic chaos at Master Canteen Square in Bhubaneswar on Friday. Picture by Ashwinee Pati

Bhubaneswar, Aug. 23: Anita Diggal, a resident of Unit-II, wishes that there should never be any Assembly session.

The 19-year-old engineering student had a harrowing time today as many people, mostly protesters, were seen roaming in her locality and stranded vehicles kept on honking creating a mess throughout the day.

“We have horrible times during the Assembly sessions. While people from other places use this time to press for their demands before the government, we wish such time should not come,” said Anita.

Similarly, the situation becomes worse for residents of Unit-III and those quarters that face M.G. Road as at least 40 groups consisting of over 30,000 people today held rallies and dharnas on the stretch in front of the Assembly and its adjoining areas, throwing traffic out of gear.

However, the protesters appeared to be apathetic towards the trouble their rallies causing to the local residents. “We are least bothered about the problems faced by the local people here. We will stage such protests here till the state government listens to us and fulfil our demands. The nearby residents and commuters have to understand our issues. Besides, it’s the government that should also think about the problems faced by the local residents and commuters,” said Sikhar Lenka, a protester, who had allegedly been cheated by a fraud deposit collection company. He was demanding that the government should ensure that he would get his money back.

With a few days left in the monsoon session, many groups of people have been thronging to the dharna place here to raise various issues and demands. Most of the rallies were held on M.G. Road, while some of the groups marched through Janpath from Ram Mandir Square. Some others held rallies on the service roads connecting Sachivalaya Marg to Janpath.

“We know that during the Assembly sessions, such rallies and dharnas are held on M.G. Road. But today, their number was far more. Protesters could be seen on every lanes and bylanes at Unit-II and Unit-III that are adjacent to the dharna place. Every road was crowded creating problem for motorists. All the roads were choc-a-bloc and honking filled the air,” said Sruti Parida, a commuter, who was going from Ganga Nagar to Kharavela Nagar.

As several groups were moving in procession from the railway station or Janpath to the rally spots, police had to divert vehicles at Master Canteen Square to allow the protesters to pass. Each rally took at least 20 to 30 minutes to cross Master Canteen Square to enter M.G. Road. The police stopped vehicles several times, which, in turn, created traffic chaos around Master Canteen Square.

With members of the Odisha Diploma Engineers’ Service Association staging protest in front of their association hall behind Keshari talkies demanding fulfilment of their three demands, the road, which was earlier used as an alternate route for people, was blocked. In the afternoon, members of the All Odsiha Non-gazetted Veterinary Technical Workers’ Association staged a rally from Ram Mandir to M.G. Road through Master Canteen Square.

A commuter alleged that despite the people facing problems during Assembly sessions when huge rallies were held here, the authorities were apathetic, trying to make any alternative arrangement for easing traffic flow. “When Master Canteen Square is blocked, it creates traffic jam on all the lanes and approach roads nearby creating a mess. I think there is an urgent need of a flyover bridge at Master Canteen, so that vehicles on Janpath can easily pass,” said Abinash Subudhi, a government employee.

“There are over 40 groups staging protests here. Our people have been deployed everywhere to manage traffic and maintain law and order,” said deputy commissioner of police Nitinjeet Singh.

A senior police officer said they had tried to facilitate meetings between the government authorities and the protesters as fast as possible, so that the demonstrators would disperse from the spot. We hope the protests will end with the session getting over on August 27. Luckily, this time no group has tried to break the barricades like previous years,” said the officer.