Jagatsinghpur: Eight persons were killed and two others rendered critical after an auto-rickshaw they were travelling in was hit by a speeding truck near Chandol on the Jagatsinghpur-Machhagaon road here in the wee hours of Saturday.
The deceased were returning home after attending the famous Snana Yatra festival at the Mahapurusha Achyutananda shrine in Nemalo near Nischintakoili in Cuttack district. While seven of them were killed on the spot, one of the three injured succumbed to his injuries in Cuttack.
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik expressed his deep condolences to the bereaved families and announced Rs 2 lakh compensation for the kin of the deceased and free treatment for the injured.
Seven passengers, identified as Chandramani Sahu (45), Sarat Chandra Pal (48) of Khalagaon, Dhaneshwar Sahu (50) of Dabar, Bholi Jena (47) and Surendra Dash of Sukuda, Sudhir Behera (48) and his daughter Jagnyaseni Behera (14) of Mandasahi, Jahanpur, and Birabar Das (45) of Sukuda were killed on the spot in the horrific crash.
Auto-rickshaw driver Sanjay Biswal of Ochanda and Tophan Sahu (18) of Machhagaon were rescued in a critical condition and were rushed to the district headquarters hospital and were later shifted to Cuttack. A pall of gloom descended in the area as news of the accident spread.
The incident triggered wide-spread tension in the area as residents alleging negligence of police personnel and administration staged a road blockade by putting up the mangled auto-rickshaw and broken tree branches at the mishap site.
They demanded Rs 10 lakh compensation, insurance and other benefits for the bereaved families and demanded that district collector Yamini Sarangi come to the spot and discuss with them.
They initially refused to relent during discussions with sub-collector Subhash Chandra Nathsharma, tehsildar Padmalochan Sahu, SDPO Sujogya Mishra but relented after ADM Saran Kumar Jena announced to provide all assistance as per government norms.
Locals became agitated after police did not turn up at the spot even after one and a half hours of the mishap. They claimed that some lives could have been saved had the police intervened in time.
Police registered a case over a complaint lodged by Machhagaon sarpanch Parshuram Sethy and arrested the truck driver Smrutiranjan Pradhan of Pokapur village. Former MLA Umesh Swain, MP’s representative Kamalakanta Mohapatra, Sethy Dabar sarpanch Dambarudhar Swain and villagers and public representatives participated in the stir.
Our correspondent from Mahanga adds that in a separate mishap, one person was killed and 10 others injured after an auto-rickshaw they were travelling in overturned near Gobari bridge at Pasulunda under Mahanga police limits in Cuttack while returning from Nemalo shrine after witnessing the festival late Friday night. Six of them critical were shifted to SCB Medical College and Hospital in Cuttack for treatment. PNN
