Irate locals block road protesting workers’ death

BALASORE: Vehicular traffic on Balasore-Chandipur route was disrupted and activities in the defence organisations at Chandipur were hampered on Thursday following a road blockade by the irate relatives of labourers who were electrocuted on the DRDO premises on Wednesday.

 The agitators were pacified after the contractor agreed to pay `4 lakh ex gratia and compensation worth `30,000 each for the injured.“Aggrieved over non-payment of ex gratia, the locals blocked the road near Jhumpura market for more than five hours. They demanded ex gratia of `5 lakh for each of the deceased and adequate compensation for family members of the injured,” sources said.

As the locals burnt tyres, more than a hundred vehicles, including the ones carrying defence personnel, remained stranded on both sides of the road till the matter was resolved.
While carrying out drilling work for erecting electric poles, Manika Khilar (40) of Srikona and Kusha Manna (25) of Talabarei under Chandipur police limits were electrocuted. Four other labourers, including three women, sustained injuries.

“Irate relatives of the labourers did not allow us to carry out postmortem of the bodies till their demands were met,”said a police official.“The contractor has already paid `50,000 to the kin of each deceased. The rest will be paid on Friday. After autopsy, the bodies have been handed over to their relatives. The defence officials have been warned to remain alert and ensure that such incidents never take place in future,”Sadar SDPO Amaresh Panda said.