Narasinghpur: A man was shot to death with arrows fired by members of a rival group and 14 villagers from both the sides were injured in a group clash over water between Sagar and Panchgochhia villages under Narasinghapur police limits in Cuttack district Sunday.
The deceased has been identified as Sridhar Samal, 40, of Sagar village. The injured are undergoing treatment at SCB Medical College and Hospital in Cuttack.
While tension is rife in the locality, senior police officials and additional tehsildar have had a few rounds of discussions with the villagers from both the sides to bring back normalcy.
However, villagers from both the sides held the police responsible for the situation going out of control. Two cases have been lodged and the police have launched an investigation after registering a case (case no-100/19) on the basis of the complaint of Sagar villagers.
Sources said that Sagar villagers irrigate their farmlands through water from the Chamundapalli reservoir. Narasinghpur tehsildar Raj Kishore Jena had reached the area July 30 and dug a portion of the embankment of Chamundapalli reservoir to supply water to Panchagoshhia villagers.
Protesting the move, Sagar villagers had staged a sit-in in front of tehsil office for two days starting July 23.
Considering demands of villagers from both the side, the dug up portion was filled up and it was decided that, both the villages would get water from the canal.
Some villagers from Sagar village went to the Chamundapalli reservoir at about 7 am to strengthen the embankment. But they faced stiff opposition from Panchagochhia villagers who rained arrows at them. On receiving an arrow, Sridhar of Sagar village died on the spot. As the news broke, hundreds of villagers from Sagar reached the spot with weapons and a group clash ensued. In the clash, Harihara, a villager of Panchagochhia village, got his hand severed. Sadananda Pradhan, 54, of the same village was also injured. Both have been undergoing treatment at SCB Medical College and Hospital.
Besides them, more than nine people from Sagar and six from Panchagochhia were injured and are undergoing treatment at Narasinghpur government hospital.
Meanwhile, it is said that some miscreants set three rooms of Durjyadhan Pradhan of Panchagochhia on fire.
Taking the simmering tension in the locality in mind, two platoons of police force have been deployed at the spot to avoid further escalation of tension.
Sagar residents held the tehsildar responsible for the entire episode. “Sagar villagers had been irrigating their farmlands with the water of the reservoir for 50 years. But tehsildar Raj Kishore Jena’s one sided decision irked the villagers, giving rise to the situation,” said Sarat Pradhan of Sagar.
Similarly, Sarat Naik and other Panchagochhia villagers also held the administration for the situation going out of control. However, the tehsildar denied all allegations.
PNN
