Bhubaneswar: Thee mployees of Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC), including sanitation workers, on Tuesday launched a ‘cease work’ protest over the alleged assault on an on-duty senior colleague the previous day. On the other hand, police arrested two more accused in the assault case, taking the total number of arrests to five.

Wearing black badges, all employees of BMC arrived at the office on Tuesday morning and staged a ‘cease work’ protest demanding immediate arrest of all persons involved in the incident and adequate security for them at the office. “The way in which our senior officer was dragged from the office and assaulted despite the presence of security guards, we are all shocked and are feeling insecure in the office,” a woman employee of the BMC said.

The BMC Commissioner, Rajesh Prabhakar Patil, said, “Our officers and employees are hurt by the unfortunate incident which happened in our office on Monday. They are staging a protest over the incident.” To ensure that such incidents do not recur in future, the BMC will take steps to enhance the security arrangements and maintain a protocol within the office premises, he said.

Earlier, the association of Odisha Administrative Service (OAS) officers had decided to put their ‘mass leave’ protest on hold after they got an assurance from Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi that strong action will be taken against all culprits involved in the alleged assault of their senior colleague. The Odisha Administrative Service Association has called for its members to go on a ‘mass leave’ from Tuesday to protest against the alleged assault of a senior OAS officer on Monday.

According to a statement issued by OAS Association president Jyoti Ranjan Mishra, “The Chief Minister has assured the association that the culprits and the perpetrators behind the scene, however powerful they may be, shall be strictly punished as per stringent provisions of law.” On the appeal of Majhi, the association decided not to proceed on leave or take any such measures, Mishra said. “Hence, in reverence to the Chief Minister’s appeal, the mass leave from July 1 is not called off but is hereby postponed,” he said. However, despite their apex body’s decision to defer the ‘mass leave’ agitation, OAS officers in 10 districts, including Cuttack, Ganjam, Jagatsinghpur, Bolangir, Sonepur, Rayagada and Mayurbhanj, went on ‘cease work’.