SAMBALPUR: At least 60 BJP workers were taken into preventive custody for trying to force their way into the district Collectorate here during an agitation over employment opportunities on Friday.
Hundreds of workers of Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM), the youth wing of BJP, came in rally from Jail Chowk and congregated near the district collectorate. Subsequently, a protest meeting was held at the spot. However, tension erupted after BJYM workers tried to enter the collectorate with bio-data of hundreds of unemployed youths.
Demands of the district BJYM unit included improvement of quality of education in Sambalpur, employment guarantee for educated youths, quality health services at doorsteps and adequate compensation to farmers for crop loss due to drought and pest attack. District BJYM chief Rikan Pattnaik said though many industries are operating in Sambalpur, local youths are being deprived of employment opportunities. The State Government has failed to meet the expectation of the people, particularly youths, he said.
Sources said the BJYM workers clashed with police personnel deployed there and succeeded to break the first barricade put up to prevent the agitators from entering the Collectorate. Following the clash, police detained the agitators including BJP national secretary Suresh Pujari, district BJP president Ramchandra Meher and district BJYM chief Rikan Pattnaik.
Pattnaik said they resorted to the agitation for the rights of local youths. The protests will be intensified in the coming days if the State Government failed to provide jobs to the youths, he threatened. Sambalpur SDPO BG Mohanty said the BJP leaders were taken into preventive custody as they were trying to enter the Collectorate.