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Agitation in Orissa against ban on common salt

Gandhian leaders in Orissa today launched a civil disobedience movement in the state to protest against the Centre's ban on the manufacture and sale of uniodised common salt.

The leaders in the districts of the state staged a 'satyagraha' before the district collectorate offices and sold locally manufactured rocksalt, ignoring the ban. The ban was imposed to control goitre, an iodine-deficiency disease.

According to the government notification, violation of the ban would lead to six months of imprisonment or a fine of Rs 1,000.

According to Utkal Sarvodaya Mandal leader Manmohan Choudhury, they launched the agitation in the districts of Cuttack, Jagatsinghpur, Puri, Kendrapara, Bhadrak, Baleswar, Angul, Nowrangpur, Koraput and Bargarh since the Centre had failed to lift the ban despite their demands for the same.

Choudhury said the movement would be launched in remaining 20 districts of the state soon, adding that the ban was an affront to the democratic rights of the people.

He said the ban was not necessary in Orissa as it was not identified among those states endemic to goitre. He warned that the decision would seriously affect the livelihood of nearly 5,000 families engaged in the manufacture of rocksalt along the Orissa coast.

Choudhury, who also sold common rocksalt packets along with his Sarvodaya colleagues during their agitation, claimed that more than 70 per cent of the salt consumed in the state, was rocksalt as it was cheaper than iodised salt.

Rejecting the government's contention on the issue, Choudhury alleged that this move was aimed at helping promote big industries.

UNI

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