PARALAKHEMUNDI: Two labourers were crushed to death under a huge boulder during illegal stone blasting near a crusher unit at Bandhaguda village within Mohana police limits in Gajapati district on Friday night. The deceased were identified as Narayan Nahak of Jharadi Radhagobindapur and his nephew Bishnu Prasad Nahak of Madhurchhua village in Ganjam district. The mishap took place at around 7.30 pm.
The duo was reportedly engaged in stone blasting at a hill near the crusher unit. Following an explosion, a massive boulder rolled down and crushed them to death.
On being informed, Mohana tehsildar Himanshu Bhusan Palai, IIC Basant Sethi and fire officer Kabiraj Sethi reached the mishap site and launched a rescue operation. However, the bodies are yet to be retrieved till reports last came in.
Fire officer Kabiraj said two JCB machines (earth movers) were engaged to retrieve the bodies from under the boulder. But the huge stone weighing over 200 tonne could not be removed. Efforts are still underway to recover the bodies. Sources said the administration is also mulling a controlled explosion to break the huge stone and retrieve the bodies.
On the other hand, family members of the deceased alleged that the crusher unit owner hired the duo to break stones. But he engaged them in the risky work of blasting stones. Narayan was reportedly working in the crusher unit for the last six months and Bishnu joined him recently.
Sources said the crusher unit didn’t have permission for blasting stones. It also had received no licence from the authorities of the pollution control board. The administration, however, is tight-lipped over the matter.
While the authorities have launched an investigation to determine the exact cause of the mishap, sub-collector Alok Pradhan said the Gajapati administration has announced an ex gratia of `50,000 each to the deceased’s kin from the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund.