PURI: Traffic near the Jail Road here came to a halt after a truck overturned on Sunday. The wheels of the truck got stuck in a manhole which caved in as the truck was passing over it. The driver and helper escaped narrowly.
The incident came a day after Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had inaugurated Atharnala bridge over the road.
Following the incident, hundreds of activists of Congress, Sachetan Nagarik Mancha and Srikshetra Surakshya Manch staged a dharna on Jail Road demanding Vigilance inquiry into poor standard of infrastructure work taken up for Nabakalebara.
The five-km road from Charinulla to Hospital Square was constructed at a cost of about Rs eight crore under the Nabakalebara infrastructure development work. Senior Congress leader Chandi Prasad Singh, convener of Srikshetra Surakshya Manch Swadhin Kumar Panda, president of Sachetan Nagarik Manch Prasanna Kumar Dash and chief of Jagannath Sena Priyadarshan Pattnaik staged the dharna with the activists.
They also filed two complaints against engineers and contractors at Kumbharpara police station seeking investigation into alleged embezzlement of the fund meant for Nabakalebara infrastructure work.
They demanded a probe by Vigilance into all the works being executed in the town and its suburbs for the festival. The dharna was withdrawn after District Collector Arabinda Agarwal reached the spot and assured to do the needful.
Upa Dalapatis Depose
Puri: Three Upa Dalapatis, who were summoned by the Chief Administrator of Jagannath temple Suresh Mahapatra, deposed before him on Sunday. The Upa Dalapatis, Durga Dasmahapatra, Ganesh Dasmahapatra and Chandrashekhar Dasmahapatra, recorded their statements.
It is learnt that they had stated about the alleged fixing of Darus and disturbance during Brahma Parivartan ritual of the deities on June 15 and 16.