Nirakarpur: Two engineers working at Rajua subdivision of Khurda Irrigation department filed an FIR Tuesday evening alleging that they were manhandled, scolded and forced by locals to walk on a muddy village road at Bhagabatipada of Lendo panchayat in the district.
The two complainant officials are deputy executive engineer Akshaya Kumar Behera and junior engineer Sishir Kumar Sahoo.
According to a police source, the villagers of Bhagabatipada and Taila mostly depend on Jamujhari canal road to access the embankment of Malaguni River here. Although, the Jamujhari canal road comes under Uikhia irrigation project, the drainage department had been looking after its maintenance in the previous years, the source said.
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Subsequently, acting on repeated request of Bhagabatipada villagers a five-metre long guard-wall is being constructed in the Jamujhari canal by Khurda Irrigation department at a cost of Rs 60 lakh.
However, as the work has not been completed for several months, local residents are unable to access the embankment of Malaguni River. The approach road is filled with slur during rainy season.
The two engineers were allegedly ill-treated when they had gone to the embankment Monday for inspecting it. As the officials could not give any satisfactory answer to instant querries of Bhagabatipada villagers on the ongoing work the latter became annoyed.
PNN
