Bhubaneswar, Sept. 13: Higher education minister Badri Narayan Patra has landed himself in a soup over his son’s alleged involvement in ransacking of Keonjhar district collectorate that houses offices of the district administration.
His son, Debashish Patra, who also happens to be a BJD leader and chairman of the Ghasipura panchayat samiti, had been leading the economic blockade agitation by the district truck owners against the state government’s decision to transport ores by trains and not by road.
Though the minister vehemently denied that his son was present at the collectorate when a mob went on the rampage after an agitating truck owner died, his bete noire in the district politics, Bhagirathi Sethy, another BJD MLA, asserted that Debashish was the key leader of the movement.
Disturbed over the incident that took place yesterday, chief minister Naveen Patnaik is said to have had a talk with his ministerial colleague over the incident. Patra told The Telegraph: “It’s a popular movement. The decision not to send ores by trucks has hit the livelihood of lakhs of families in Keonjhar, Jajpur, Kendrapara and Jagatsinghpur districts. My son was not present when the incident happened. Being a local leader, he has been articulating popular aspirations and demands of the local people. Let police take action if there is any evidence of his involvement,” he said.
The agitators have been on an indefinite fast in front of the district collectorate — the complex housing offices of the collector, additional district magistrate, district panchayat officer, district rural development agency, civil supplies and mining offices. To curb illegal mining in the area, the government had banned transportation of ores by road. Nearly 20,000 vehicles were engaged in the operation.
The agitation took a violent turn, following the death of Prem Ranjan Behera, a truck owner, at a local hospital. Behera was taken to the hospital after he had complained of unease and later died.
Anandpur MLA from the BJD Bhagirathi Sethy alleged that the minister’s son “has been leading the agitation, and the minister, openly supporting the transporters’ cause”. “I will meet the chief minister and apprise him of the matter,” Sethy told The Telegraph.
“The agitators should not have taken law into their hands. The common man should not be subjected to inconvenience because of an agitation by a few truck owners,” he said. Today, the truckers observed a strike in Keonjhar. Banks, insurance offices and other financial institutions did not function. Public transport was also off the roads, putting commuters to inconvenience. Educational institutions remained closed and agitators picketed outside government offices and local courts.
Operation of many iron ore mines at Joda, Barbil and other areas in the district was affected.
