Cuttack: A day after a 60- year-old man lost his life as his car fell into the Taladanda canal due to the absence of a barricade, a minor girl died a few hours after being trapped between huge pipes and a concrete slab on a temporary bridge during box drain construction in Kesharpur-Gamandia area under Purighat police limits here, Tuesday.
According to sources, N Mohini Das, daughter of Krishna Das and Hema Das, of Gamandia area was crossing the bridge when huge pipes fell on her, leaving the girl trapped in between the concrete slab and the pipes. With no way out, the Plus II student of Emarti Devi Women’s College in the Silver City raised an alarm following which locals rushed to her rescue. Locals pulled out all the stops to rescue the girl after more than an hour of intense operation.
Meanwhile, the bridge (pathway), which was built to facilitate the movement of people from one end of the drain to the other, collapsed during the rescue operation. The pipes were precariously stocked for the construction of the box drain, they said. The critically-injured girl was rushed to SCB Medical College and Hospital (SCBMCH) in Cuttack and later to a private healthcare facility in the CDA area, where she died.
On Monday, Gyanaranjan Jena, a resident of the Sartol area here, died and his wife Anjana Jena suffered grievous injuries after the car they were traveling in fell into the Taladanda canal near Andarpur under Madhupatna police limits here. The mishap took place around 12 noon when Gyanaranjan and his wife were returning home in a car after withdrawing cash from a bank. They were heading towards Andarpur from Matrubhawan when the couple could not proceed as the road was closed. There was no warning about the under-construction open end of Taladanda. Ignorant about the open end, the Gyanaranjan reversed the vehicle which veered into the canal. The district administration has sought a report from the R&B superintending engineer and subCollector (Sadar) in connection with the incident.
According to locals, the mishap happened due to the ‘slapdash’ attitude of the agency engaged in the construction work. “It is the negligent attitude of the administration and the private agency executing the construction work for which two lives were lost in as many days,” said Praveen Swain, a resident of Purighat area.