In a determined bid to secure long-pending civic amenities for her constituents, BJP corporator Bandita Pal of Ward 37 began an indefinite hunger strike on Wednesday.
Seated on a disputed government plot with local residents, she has vowed to continue the protest until authorities clear the way for a ward office, senior citizens’ home and women’s association building.
The action follows a week of public consultations. Pal said she is running ward-related work, including receiving complaints, from the same government land where the facilities are proposed. She has warned that the fast will continue until the General Administration (GA) Department grants formal permission for the constructions.
According to information shared by the corporator, the GA land had long been under the control of a private builder who erected high-rise structures. After the matter came to the notice of the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) and Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA), the unauthorised constructions were demolished on departmental orders. The plot was then earmarked for the Ward 37 office.
Controversy erupted when the same land was reportedly allotted to the builder for parking use. Pal has alleged that the government property board was removed and that a senior BMC official is involved. Complaints were lodged with BMC and Nayapalli police station and later reached the Deputy Commissioner of Police’s office, yet a final resolution remained elusive.
The protest is being staged on Plot No. 892. Although BMC suspended the parking permission granted to the builder on October 3 following public pressure, residents remain dissatisfied. They point to the lack of strong legal action against the builder for allegedly demolishing a government boundary wall and the continued delay in constructing the promised ward office and community facilities.
Pal’s hunger strike has drawn attention to the simmering dispute over public land use in the ward, highlighting demands for transparent allocation and timely delivery of basic civic infrastructure.
