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Probe sought into death of man at grievance cell

BHUBANESWAR: A man, who came to the Chief Minister’s Redressal Grievance Cell (CMRVC) to get his grievance redressed, died after falling faint in the mad rush here on Saturday. The death has now taken political colour as State Congress has demanded a judicial probe into the incident.

The man, identified as Jagannath Sethy (40), was a chronic patient of tuberculosis and asthma. Jagannath, who belong to Bhatarika under Banki subdivision of Cuttack district, had come to grievance cell for seeking financial help.

However, in the mad rush he fell down and reportedly sustained injures. Jagannath was immediately rushed to nearby Capital Hospital where he died in the late evening. Relatives charged that police wanted them to leave the capital city as quickly as possible and did not allow them to meet deceased.

People for the last few months had been coming to capital city in large number with high hopes that Naveen Patnaik government which was approaching elections within the next few days would fulfil all their demands.

The grievance cell being held every Saturday saw huge crowd swelling outside the building. A rumour that Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik would himself remain present at the cell to hear their grievances added to the chaos. A few hundred peopled soon joined already a packed premises. Jagannath could not cope with the rush and became faint.

The Orissa Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) on Sunday accused that a person died and 14 others were injured in stampede in front of CMVC.

“Everybody knows the Chief Minister never bothers to visit his grievance redressal cell. In spite of that around 5000 people comprising of sick, diseased, infirmed, students, women along with their children were carried to the grievance redressal cell, on the plea that their grievances will be redressed by the Chief Minister himself on the spot,” the OPCC said in a statement.

The party accused that they were made to wait for hours together to meet the Chief Minister. “The laxity of the police and their efforts to suppress the incident further creates an atmosphere of suspicion,” OPCC said. It demanded a judicial probe should be ordered for inquire into the matter.

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