JAGATSINGHPUR: An ASHA worker of Padampur panchayat in Erasama was assaulted by the local sarpanch on Saturday.
This is the second such incident in less than a week. On June 3, an ASHA worker was attacked by fishermen of Sandhkuda village in Paradip after she forced them to stay in quarantine centre after their return from Andhra Pradesh.
The worker Binodini Giri was on way to the local quarantine centre when Padampur sarpanch Keshab Charan Patra and his associates attacked her. Keshab was reportedly miffed with Binodini’s son Pabitra for objecting to the use of machines in MGNREGS works and was looking for an opportunity to settle scores with him.
Sources said Keshab had engaged a machine for digging pond under MGNREGS instead of using the local workforce. When Pabitra found out about this illegal act, he raised a banner of protest as villagers including migrant workers were unable to find jobs due to the coronavirus crisis. He also took pictures and captured videos of the machine digging the pond on his mobile phone.
Finding Pabitra alone on the day, Keshab and some of supporters assaulted Pabitra. When Binodini, who was going to the local quarantine centre, saw her son being attacked, she intervened. However, she too was assaulted by the sarpanch. The ASHA worker lodged an FIR against Keshab with Erasama police.
However, Keshab refuted the allegation and said Pabitra was opposing the stay of 100 returnees at the local temporary medical centre fearing coronavirus spread in the village. Due to the opposition, there was a heated exchange between them.
Keshab alleged that the ASHA worker and her son assaulted him and he has also lodged a complaint against them with police.
Erasama IIC Prasant Majhi said preliminary investigation revealed that the fight between Keshab and the ASHA worker’s son was over the use of machine in a MGNREGS project. Police have registered two cases and investigation is on.