BERHAMPUR: Tension flared up in Ramgiri area of Gajapati district on Thursday as locals staged road blockade demanding compensation for the family of a 19-year-old boy who was killed by a falling branch of a roadside tree.
Traffic from Ramgiri to Paralakhemundi was disrupted for over four hours as irate locals blocked the road at Gandhi chowk with the body of the deceased, identified as Suman Paik.
Sources said on Wednesday, Suman was on way to a farmland with his friends when a large branch of a roadside tree fell on them. While Suman sustained grievous head injuries, four of his friends escaped with minor scratches. The teenager was taken to Ramgiri hospital and later shifted to the district headquarters hospital at Paralakhemundi after his condition worsened. However, he succumbed during treatment.
After autopsy, Suman’s body was brought to Ramgiri on the day. Soon after, hundreds of local residents resorted to blockade by squatting on the road with the teenager’s body. The agitators said Suman hailed from a poor family and was being cared for by his aunt after the death of his parents. The administration should provide adequate compensation to the youth’s aunt, they added.
As hundreds of vehicles were stranded on both sides of Ramgiri-Paralakhemundi road due to the blockade, R Udayagiri tehsildar Jyotirmayi Das, BDO Loriman Khorsel and Ramgiri IIC D Gajapati Dora reached the protest site and held discussion with the agitating locals.
The officials provided Rs 93,000 to Suman’s family. They also assured to include the family under Antyodaya Yojana, provide a house and Rs 3 lakh from the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund. Subsequently, the blockade was lifted and traffic resumed on the road.
