BARGARH : Residents of Bargarh town, under the banner of Bargarh Nagarika Ekata Manch, continued the ‘bandh’ for the second consecutive day here on Tuesday over the demand for a city hospital at the old building of District Headquarters Hospital (DHH).All Government offices, courts, educational institutions, banks and financial institutions besides shops and business establishments remained closed. Vehicular movement was disrupted as residents staged a road blockade at Bhatli Chowk, VSS Nagar Chowk and Ambapali Chowk. No untoward incident, however, was reported.
Aswini Sarangi, a member of the Manch, said the district administration started providing health services at the old DHH building on Monday to avoid public outrage. “However, we will continue to demand establishment of a full-fledged hospital with adequate number of beds, sufficient number of doctors, paramedical staff and all kinds of health services offered at a DHH,” he said.
Bargarh MLA Debesh Acharya said the State Government is committed to provide best possible health services to the people. “Though there is no concept such as city hospital, I have written to Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik for establishment of an Urban Community Health Centre (UCHC) at the old DHH building,” he said.The situation flared up after the DHH was shifted to Tukurla, about 10 km from Bargarh town, on February 1. Aggrieved residents on Monday had staged a dharna in front of the old DHH building and later in front of the Town police station demanding the establishment of a city hospital.
The agitation had later turned violent as protestors pelted stones at police personnel. While the bandh had been called off after Collector Jyotiranjan Pradhan assured provision of health services at the old DHH building, a decision to continue the bandh on Tuesday was taken at a meeting convened later on Monday evening.