By Our Correspondent
KENDRAPARA/BHUBANESWAR: When Industry, Energy and MSME Minister Pratap Deb paid a visit to the accident site, where, 3 persons drowned in the river following a boat capsize early this morning, one person was rescued and a body was fished out by ODRAF and fire personnel, one more body was yet to be traced, locals gheraoed him demanding the construction of a bridge.
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik condoled the loss of lives and granted an ex-gratia of Rs 4 lakh to the next of kin of the deceased and extended his compassion to the bereaved family.
The boat was on its way to Keradagad of Rajnagar from Ekamania under Aul in Kendrapara. Around 15-20 passengers were onboard along with three motorcycles. While the body of the minor was retrieved from the river after a frantic search, the boatman who had gone missing in the mishap has not been traced yet.
Minister Deb said tendering for an all-weather bridge was started in 2012 but no bidder turned up and the project got delayed. The Central government earlier negated a bridge on the ground of rivers interlinking project, he said.
Ekamania village, is cut off from road communication because of River Brahmani, The villagers expressed their angst when Minister Deb visited the spot later in the day. The situation was brought under control after assurance from him that a bridge will soon be built. The locals resorted to protest by staging a roadblock by keeping the body on the road when the Minister visited the spot. The body was released for post-mortem after getting assurance from the Minister.
“Initially, the bridge project was proposed with an estimated cost of around Rs 37 crore. Alternatively, I had proposed a vented causeway on the Brahmani river to connect Ekamania with Keradagada, which will be much lower than the current estimated cost and take less time to get completed. Even, heavy vehicles will be able to move on it,” the Minister Deb added.
