Residents of Hooda's hometown suffer as Rohtak witnesses flurry of protests

ROHTAK | CHANDIGARH: Residents of Rohtak — hometown of Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda — are peeved at frequent protests in the city by various state employee unions and social organizations against the government. People are often made to undergo a lot of inconvenience due to these protests, which brings the city to a standstill due heavy security arrangements that curtail movement, badly affecting residents' daily routine, sources said.
Agitations are being held in Rohtak since 2005, even though the administration has issued prohibitory orders banning gathering of groups in the city. Two additional police companies have been deployed to keep law and order situation in control, and under-trainee recruits of police training schools at Sunaria and Madhuban are also put on alert.
D Park, the colony where CM Hooda has his camp office, and the road stretch connecting Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences (PGIMS), Maharishi Dayanand University (MDU), income tax office and main market are among the major areas that witness major protests. Chaotic scenes are routine as police block the road leading to CM's residence to prevent protesters from holding dharna.
Stating that Rohtak was not an exception, city MLA B B Batra of the ruling Congress said, "The situation is same in cities across the country from which the respective CMs hail."
"We wonder when the entire Haryana government sits in Chandigarh, why do protesters come to Rohtak. I can give a number of instances where we had been under virtual house arrest," said Shikha Sahni, a resident of D Park.
Owners of medical shops around PGIMS and other shopkeepers also spoke about ambulances stuck in traffic jams caused due to roads being blocked by police for security arrangements.
When Hooda became the CM in 2005, there had been one or two such agitations a month. The frequency of protests increased with passage of time. So far, 22 protests have been held in Rohtak this month. Strict measures by Chandigarh administration to prevent protesters from going beyond Madhya Marg have made the demonstrators head to Rohtak, sources said.
"Where should we go? Especially when nobody is ready hear us out? We don't feel like causing inconvenience to people, but are forced to. You can't enter Chandigarh, hence Rohtak became our choice," said S K S Lamba, general secretary, Sarv Karamchari Sangh.
Inspector general (IG) of police, Rohtak range, Anil Kumar Rao, admitted to problems caused by agitations. "Our priority is to maintain law and order. Sometimes, it becomes inconvenient for locals, but we try our best to ensure that people do not suffer," he said.