Balikuda: Ripen paddy crops over 2.5 acres of farmland were reduced to ashes after a fire swept through the farmland at Badarodang village under this tehsil in Jagatsinghpur district Saturday.
As a result, standing paddy crops of five families over 2.5 acre of land were destroyed in the fire. The affected families were identified as Prahllad Nayak, Padmanabha Sarangi, Jajati Ojha, Jaikrushna Sarangi and Bira Barik in the village.
A villager Maheshwar Sarangi sustained critical burn injuries while trying to douse the fire. He fell unconscious on the spot when a fire tender arrived at the spot and rushed him to the nearby health centre. Later, another fire tender doused the fire.
The fire is suspected to be the handiwork of some miscreants as the villagers demanded financial assistance for the families for the crop loss.
PNN