ROURKELA: The chorus for independent district status grew longer and louder with people of Bonai sub-division in the tribal-dominated Sundargarh district joining in and calling a shut down in Bonai sub-divisional headquarters on Friday .
Sources said the shut down call by the Bonai District Action Committee (BDAC) was in force from 8 am to 2 pm. The agitating BDAC members comprising people from different walks of life and local members of political parties closed shops and government offices.
They also staged road blocks at Darjing, Narendra Chowk and Kenabhata disrupting vehicular traffic on National Highway (NH) 143. Roads were also blocked at Rajamunda and Khuntgaon-Lahunipada road junction to paralyse the NH 520. The agitators reiterated their demand for bifurcation of the vast tribal-dominated district to carve out a new district for Bonai comprising four blocks of Bonai sub-division, four blocks and Rourkela Smart City of Panposh sub-division and Rajgangpur block of Sundargarh sub-division.
Justifying their demand they said the mineral-rich Bonai sub-division was an erstwhile princely state and despite feeding minerals to industries in Sundargarh and elsewhere, it continues to be neglected and backward.
“Bonai remains a victim of government’s step-motherly attitude. Even the long-pending demand for Notified Area Council (NAC) tag to the Bonai sub-divisional headquarter is not met when the people of the region are desperate for development and to get rid of Gram Panchayat rule,” the protesters rued. They asserted the fight for independent district will continue.
Meanwhile, the Rourkela Bar Association (RBA) in a recent general body meeting resolved to hold peaceful agitation on December 7 involving political and apolitical representatives before the new court complex and also send fresh memorandum to the CM for independent district demand for Rourkela.
RBA General Secretary Akshay Sahu said after the Men’s Hockey World Cup 2023 they would go for intensive agitation. About BDAC’s shutdown Sahu said Rourkela’s demand is three-decades-old and the people of Bonai were supporting it, adding they request Bonai Bar Association and other stakeholders to support Rourkela. A day before, on Thursday, members of Bonai District Action Committee (BDAC) had sent a memorandum to Chief Minister (CM) Naveen Patnaik through the office of the Bonai sub-collector.