Road blockade at Salepur, Sisua and Kedupatana simultaneously put the local administration in a fix and paralysed vehicular traffic on Cuttack-Chandbali State Highway (SH) for more than five hours on Monday.
Over 1,000 irate residents of Salepur staged the road blockade demanding stringent action against the persons who had disrupted power supply to the
town plunging it into darkness throughout Sunday night.
Protesting the apathy of Salepur CESU division, villagers of Banahara, who have been demanding an electric transformer for their village since long, damaged the 11-KV power cable connected to Raisunguda structure at about 10 pm. Peeved over power failure, a group of people from Manoharpur village came to Salepur and went on a rampage in the CESU office. Three four-wheelers of the power distributor, furniture and other official accessories were damaged by the villagers. Due to sabotage by the Manoharpur villagers, power supply to Salepur remained cut off whole night.
The road blockade was withdrawn after Salepur Tehsildar Rudra Narayan Dash and SDPO Surya Kant Ray assured them of taking necessary step against the saboteurs.
Similarly, in protest against apathetic attitude of Jagatpur Irrigation North Division, more than 300 farmers of Shankarpur, Chhanipur, Ramakrishnapur, Orabari and Katarapa villages in Salepur
block staged road blockade at Sisua demanding release of water to the branch canal of Kendrapara main canal for irrigation of paddy
crop.
The third road blockade was staged by students of Industrial Training Centre at Kendupatana in protest against misbehaviour by the staff of a private bus.