Mason from Bengal drowns in open drain

Cuttack: A 35-year-old man died after falling into an open drain at Mahima Nagar in Bidyadharpur here on Thursday night. The deceased , Jakir Ali , from Murshidabad in West Bengal, was working as a mason in Cuttack.
Police said he fell into the drain as it was uncovered for ongoing construction work in the locality. “Locals spotted the body in the morning and informed police.A team was pressed into action and body was recovered from the drain,” said ADCP Anil Mishra. His family has been contacted and they are on their way to Cuttack. “The postmortem has been performed and an unnatural death case has been registered in CRRI police station,” he added. Locals blamed the authorities for the incident. “The administration and civic authorities are responsible for the tragedy,” alleged Santosh Behera, a resident of Bidyadharpur. “We have requested the civic body to cover the open drain several times but our requests fell on deaf ears,” added Behera.
Contacted, CMC mayor Subhash Singh said, “Almost all open drains in the city are covered with slabs. We will look into the matter and action will be taken against the culprit,” added Singh.