DHENKANAL: Thousands of people bade a tearful farewell to Army jawan Ajit Kumar Sahoo, who died following an IED blast carried out by militants at Pulwama in Jammu and Kashmir on Tuesday.
People gathered on the streets from Kamakshyanagar to Badasuanlo village on Thursday to pay their last respects to the martyred jawan.
As the jawans carried the tricolour-draped coffin, slogans of ‘Ajit Amar Rahe’ filled the air in the village. His mortal remains were cremated with full State honours in the village.
Earlier, the mortal remains of the jawan were received by District Emergency Officer Sasank Sekhar Mishra at Bhubaneswar airport. A guard of honour was given by Odisha police to the martyr at Dhenkanal Mini Stadium.
Later, a procession was carried out from Kamakshyanagar to Badasuanlo village where people from all walks of life paid floral tributes to the martyred jawan.
Traffic movement on Kamakshyanagar-Bhuban Road was disrupted as thousands of people participated in the procession.
Sahoo had sustained injuries in the IED blast at Arihal village in Pulwama on Monday. He succumbed to his injuries the next day.
Collector Nikhil Pawan Kalyan, SP Anupama James, Kamakshyanagar Sub-Collector Bishnu Prasad Acharya, former Rajya Sabha member Rudra Narayan Pany, district BJP president Bibhuti Bhusan Pradhan and former BJP MLA Krushna Chandra Patra paid their tributes to the martyr.