Athgarh: Tension ran high at Khuntakata village near here in Cuttack district after the body of Sanjay Das, one of the two JCB operators who were trapped under a heap of boulders down a hill near Bariput village in Koraput district, reached the village after 15 days of the mishap and search operations.
Having lost her family’s only bread-earner, Sanjay’s widowed mother was mentally disturbed and fainted as she saw his body. She was behaving abnormally after the news of the mishap reached her. She had not eaten all these days, which further deteriorated her health, villagers said.
The Koraput Police on Friday arrested the Site Manager of DD Builder Bijay Kumar Jha in connection with the Bariput stone quarry mishap which took lives of at least two JCB operators following a hill caving on May 31.
Informing on the arrest to media Koraput Additional SP VR Rao said Jha was arrested for dereliction of duty.
Meanwhile, agitated villagers staged a road blockade on National Highway-65, saying that the Rs 6lakh compensation provided by the Koraput administration from Chief Minister’s Relief Fund and the Red Cross was “too little.” Sanjay’s family also consisted of two sisters who depended on him for sustenance. After his death, there was no income for the family, villagers said.
A joint rescue team comprising army personnel and other agencies recovered the body of Sanjay after many days of herculean efforts to remove/break the fallen boulders. When recovered, the body was decomposed.
The rescue team had detonated two explosives in the presence of Collector K Sudarshan Chakraborty and SP Kanwar Vishal Singh Thursday morning, then cleared the debris and recovered the body, along with another body, by the evening.
Sanjay’s body was found lying under a heap of boulders about 15-metres away from that of the other ill-fated JCB operator Ghanashyam. A post-mortem was conducted on the two bodies. The body of Sanjay was handed over to two Prakash Barik, the brother-in-law of the deceased.
PNN
