Congress rally chokes traffic in Berhampur

Mynews, 27th June, 2008

Traffic on National Highway 217 passing through the city came to a halt for several hours here today as Congress workers held a procession as part of a "jail bharo" agitation against the BJD-BJP government in Orissa.Party workers led by Union Minister of State for Rural Development Chandra Sekhar Sahu, Leader of Opposition J B Patnaik and State Congress President Jayadeb Jena courted arrest while trying to break the police cordon, police said.The party workers from ten districts of south Orissa took part in the agitation accusing the Naveen Patnaik government of failing to maintain law and order.Even though 14 platoons of policemen and over 100 officers were deployed to maintain order during the agitation, police had a tough time controlling traffic as the huge procession passed through.Congress workers from far-off places in Ganjam, Gajapati, Rayagada, Koraput, Nabarangpur, Malkangiri, Kandhamal, Boudh, Kalahandi and Nuapada districts took part in the rally.It was the second revenue division level "jail bharo" agitation after the one held in Cuttack on June 20. The last one will be held at Sambalpur, the western division headquarter town next month, the PCC chief said."The government has failed to fulfill the aspirations of the people and its days are numbered," Patnaik said.The government had no right to attack the center on oil price rise when it failed to streamline and control the prices of agriculture products in the state, he said."The Centre was compelled to hike the prices of petroleum products due to rise in crude price in the international market," Union Minister Sahu said.