Stir against containment zone singes Rourkela Main Road
Barricades were brought down and set on fire by protesters in Rourkela on Tuesday
ROURKELA: At least 13 police personnel were injured in stone pelting when hundreds of residents of Main Road in Rourkela city took to the streets on Tuesday, pulled down barricades and set them on fire in protest against the administration’s decision to treat their area as a containment zone for a month. They demanded the lifting of the containment tag and return to a less restricted lifestyle. Three protesters were injured in the clash while a journalist, who was covering the incident, was also assaulted.
Senior administrative officials including Rourkela SP K Shiva Subramani, DIG (western range) Kavita Jalan and Sundargarh collector Nikhil Pawan Kalyan tried to reason with the protesters, but they were rigid in their demand of immediate lifting of the containment tag. “The situation is under control and the negotiation process is on,” said Jalan. About 10 platoons of police force have been deployed in the area to maintain peace.
Sources said following the detection of Covid-19 cases in the main road area of Rourkela city, the district administration had declared the area as a containment zone on April 26. Besides, the adjoining areas up to Power House Road and Madhusudar Square were declared buffer zone, where movement of locals were restricted.
As per normal practice, screening was conducted in the containment zone and with some positive cases emerging at regular intervals, the administration decided to keep the area under watch. On Monday, restrictions were lifted in the buffer zone but the main road area continued to remain as a containment zone.
Residents, who were hoping that their movement would be relaxed as well, got angry that their area was not taken off the containment list. On Tuesday morning, around 200 locals came out on to the streets, pulled down the barricades and set them on fire. When police intervened, they started pelting stones in which 13 sustained injuries. They were taken to Rourkela Government Hospital and were discharged after initial treatment.
This is the second time that the locals had clashed with the police. A few weeks back they had hit the streets against alleged apathy towards their locality by the local administration.