Locals block highway for over an hour

Bhubaneswar: Locals on Wednesday blocked NH-57 for more than an hour to protest against the death of two persons after a hoarding collapsed on them due to gusty winds in Aiginia here on Tuesday, leaving hundreds of vehicles stranded on both sides of the highway. The deceases were identified as driver Tuna Gowda, 38, and Sachitananda Pradhan, 19, a student.

The protesters blocked the road, holding placards and raising slogans with no vehicles allowed to pass through the route. They demanded accountability and action against the culprit, whose alleged negligence led to the hoarding collapse. “We repeatedly urged local authorities to remove the unsafe hoarding. But no action was taken and there was a fatal consequence. The particular advertiser must be booked and punished,” Itishree Das, a local.


Zonal deputy commissioner of Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC), Rakesh Patro, said Pradhan was waiting for his father to pick him up near the hoarding, while the driver was sipping tea at a nearby stall. “The student was waiting when a nor’wester blew off the iron frame, which fell on him,” Patro added.

Locals were more irate because the teen’s death came to light later. His father, upon reaching the spot, did not find his son. He later went to AIIMS Bhubaneswar to the place where Gowda’s body was kept, but did not find his son’s. “After a frantic effort, the body was recovered under the collapsed iron frame,” Das added.

Police forces and traffic personnel were deployed in large numbers to restore traffic and pacify the protesters. “The blockade was lifted soon. Traffic was regulated to decongest the road,” DCP Jagmohan Meena said.

CM Mohan Charan Majhi has condoled the deaths and announced a compensation of Rs 4 lakh each for the families of the deceased. “For the next of kin of the deceased, Rs 4 lakh each is announced to be paid,” the CMO wrote in an X post.