Students up in arms against Kalahandi Collector

The Pioneer, March 4, 2011
PNS, Bhawanipatna

The Students’ Union of the Government Autonomous College here has threatened to go on strike from Friday demanding transfer of the Kalahandi Collector Roopa Mishra. Union president Umakanta Suna made a statement to this effect at a Press conference in the college premises on Thursday.

The union is anguished over the Collector’s alleged interference in preparation of its agenda for the closing ceremony of the golden jubilee celebration of the college, which was held on February 28 and where Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik was invited as the chief guest and Odia daily Aromv’s editor Chandra Mishra was invited as the chief speaker.

Suna alleged that though the agenda was already finalised by the union, the Collector changed it a day before the function, which was not intimated to the union directly and the letter was addressed to the college principal and later on conveyed to the union leaders on the dais when the function was about to start. The Collector wanted that the chief speaker would deliver his speech after that of the Chief Minister, which triggered an unseemly situation on the stage, he said.
Suna further said that despite the change in the agenda, he moved on according to the earlier agenda made by the union.
Meanwhile, the chief speaker left the dais but returned when he (Suna) requested him to speak. The chief speaker flayed what he said the ‘officer raj’ running in the State.