Kendrapara: Freedom fighters from across Odisha's Kendrapara district skipped the official republic day function on Thursday to protest non-allotment
of a plot of government land for a Sangrami Bhawan complex.
Administrative officials, meanwhile, have begun steps
to find a plot for the building. They have been demanding the
land for the past 18 years.
"We stayed away from the R-day function in protest,"
Purusottam Nayak, president of district freedom fighters
samiti, said.
"After waiting in vain to get a piece of government
land to build Sangrami Bhawan, we had resolved not to take
part in the official Republic Day function. They planned to
felicitate the freedom fighters but none of them turned up,"
Nayak said.
Eighteen years back, the district administration had
given consent to hand over the required land near Kendrapara
College, he said.
When contacted Kendrapara Collector P K Pattnaik said,
"The administration had offered a plot for the building on the
outskirts of the town. But freedom fighters association
insists on allotment of land in the heart of the town. The
administration is trying to settle the issue at the earliest."
PTI
First Published: Friday, January 27, 2012, 14:06