ROURKELA: As many as 40 persons were injured when some members of a community on Tuesday resorted to violence demanding lifting of containment order imposed on a particular location in Rourkela city exactly a month ago, following detection of the first Covid-19 positive case.
Locals protested after Commissioner of the Rourkela Municipal Corporation (RMC) Dibyajyoti Parida issued an order on Monday night withdrawing restrictions from the buffer area of Rourkela Containment zone and also reducing the size of the zone by half.
The agitators hit the streets at about 2 am in the intervening night of Monday and Tuesday, but police pacified them by seeking time till morning to address their grievances.
However, before any measure could be taken, a mob of over 2,000 people dismantled barricades, broke chairs at police camps, assaulted those who came on their way, and resorted to stone pelting at police at about 6 am.
At least 40 persons including 12 policemen, local media persons and protesters were injured. Even as the police resorted to lathi-charge and firing of tear gas shells at about 9.30 am, the mob did not stop.
Violence over Covid containment, 40 hurt
The protesters relented after DIG (Western Range) Kavita Jalan reached at the spot and appealed for peace with the assurance of addressing their grievances. Collector Nikhil Pawan Kalyan also reached the spot and held talks with the senior administrative and police officers to contain the situation. He said appropriate action would be taken after assessing the situation.
Palpable tension was continuing amid deployment of additional forces. Earlier, a mob of the same community had pelted stones on police on one occasion and frequently engaged in skirmishes with police.
Meanwhile, under new RMC order only half of the containment zone on the southern side of the Rourkela main road from Janata Nivas lane to AB lane will be under strict restrictions.
The other half on the northern side of the Main Road and the entire portion of the buffer zone have been declared as free zones. So far, 20 Covid-19 positive cases have been reported from the containment zone while another connecting locality reported two cases. The DIG said the situation is under control and police are maintaining a tight vigil. On the containment zone status, she added that since no fresh order has come out the last order continues to be in force.