PARADIP: Loading and unloading of cargo from goods trains were affected after hundreds of CFH (clearing, forwarding and handling) workers resorted to agitation on Sunday demanding compensation and job for kin of a CFH victim, who died in an accident on Paradip port premises.
Sources said the CFH worker, identified as Gandhi Palatsingh, was unloading materials from a wagon of goods train when a pig iron fell on him. Though he shouted for help, no one came to his rescue and he died. On being informed, hundreds of CFH workers staged demonstration. They alleged that lack of safety measures at the site led to Palatsingh’s death. During loading of cargo, the door of wagon was not properly closed, they said.
Even as loading and unloading of cargo and transportation work were affected, several goods trains got stranded on different railway stations on Cuttack-Paradip railway line due to the strike. Paradip Port Trust (PPT) officials and stevedoring agencies were negotiating with CFH workers to resolve the issue. Police seized the body and sent it to Kujang hospital for post-mortem.