Tribal outfit shuts down GP office in Balangir demanding reservation

Balangir, Jan 16: A tribal outfit has locked up a Gram Panchayat(GP) office in Balangir, demanding equitable reservation in the coming rural local bodies elections, for the tribal. With the demand, Balangir Zilla Adivasi Kalaya Sangha staged a protest at Turekela on Sunday and jeopardized the Chatuanaka GP office for a long time. Sources said hundreds of tribal people marched on a rally with traditional weapons in their hands in the morning. Subsequently, they took out the rally to the Chatunaka GP office and staged a dharna before it. Later, the unity locked up the GP office demanding reservations of seats for them, in the coming GP level elections. At the same time, leaders of the forum expressed their discontent over the reservation mechanism excluding the tribal entities in the Balangir district. We will continue our protest till our demand is properly addressed, said a local leader. However, we will shut down more GP offices in the future if the demand will be averted by the authorities, he added.