Berhampur: In an ugly turn of events, angry villagers of Dhadiamba village in Tumba panchayat under Patrapur block of Ganjam district today heckled and detained the local Block Development Officer (BDO) for alleged missing of their names in the electoral rolls.
According to reports, the villagers which included women heckled and dragged Patrapur BDO Prakash Das by the collar of his shirt and took hostage of him while he was returning after inspecting a school transformation work in the village.
The villagers were allegedly deprived of exercising their franchise in the ongoing three-tier panchayat polls as their names were missing from the electoral roll.
The BDO was made to sign an agreement wherein it was agreed upon that no villager whose name has been excluded from the electoral roll will be deprived of any benefits provided by the government like housing, food security, social security schemes, etc.
Secondly, the defective electoral roll shall be corrected by the administration as soon as possible so that they can cast their votes in the elections in the future.
Thirdly, in the event of any basic problem arising as a consequence of their names not featuring in the electoral the administration shall take complete responsibility for its responsibility.
Das was released by the villagers after the intervention of the police and the signing of the agreement.
Worth mentioning, the villagers had detained the presiding officer during the third phase polling of the panchayat polls as their names were missing from the electoral roll. Even the local tehsildar and police IIC who had gone to rescue the presiding officer were also detained by the villagers.
