BJP corporator Bandita Pal of BMC Ward No. 37 entered the fourth day of her indefinite hunger strike on Saturday amid growing support from party workers, as she protests against the alleged illegal transfer of government land and administrative inaction.
Pal has been sitting on a dharna that escalated into an indefinite hunger strike against what she describes as the grabbing of government land and the indifference of civic authorities. On Saturday, a large number of BJP workers and ward-level leaders joined her at the protest site to express solidarity.
Concerns over the corporator’s deteriorating health prompted the Nayapalli police station officer to write to the Director/Superintendent of Capital Hospital on Friday, requesting the deployment of a medical team. A PCR van arrived at the site to inform her of the development. Pal, however, rejected the intervention and questioned the lack of concrete action on her complaint against the private builder involved.
Medical teams from Capital Hospital examined her health once on Friday and twice on Saturday—once in the morning and once in the evening. Despite the prolonged protest, which has now crossed 24 hours at the site, supporters alleged that no women police personnel were deployed.
No senior BMC official has visited the site or provided any update on the fulfilment of her demands. Pal has alleged a conspiracy to hand over Plot No. 892, a piece of government land, to a private builder, with the involvement of certain officials from the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation and the General Administration Department.
Following the earlier dharna, BMC had only kept the allotment in abeyance. The absence of any further action has fuelled dissatisfaction among the protesters.
The hunger strike continues as Bandita Pal demands firm administrative steps against the alleged land grab.
