Sambalpur: A senior lawyer during his morning walk died on the spot after a speeding truck ran over him at Sarla Square on NH-53 in Sambalpur district early Saturday morning.
The deceased was identified as Umesh Chandra Pradhan.
According to a source, the legal professional Pradhan was on a morning walk near a local educational institution named Saint Joseph’s School at around 6.45.am when the fatal mishap took place. The truck laden with grapes was coming from Ainthapali area. Driver of the vehicle lost control over it and ran over Pradhan leading to his untimely death.
Following the incident, a number of locals gathered at the accident site. They got annoyed as Pradhan was a wellknown man in the locality. Later, the irate residents detained the truck and set the vehicle on fire. They also staged a roadblock on NH-53 by burning tyres. Vehicular movement was completely disrupted for long hours.
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“Umesh Pradhan was a senior advocate. The speeding truck hit him while he was on morning walk. He later succumbed on the spot. Such incidents of fatality will not end and be repeated every day if the local administration and NHAI authorities will not take proper measures to curb the speed of heavy vehicles on the national highway. Importantly, two schools are located near the major road, but there is no speed breaker here,” a local youth who took part in the protest said.
The agitation would continue on NH-53 unless and until the demand for construction of speed-breakers is met,” the agitator added.
“Tension mounted in the area after the mishap occurred. Several other lawyers with the help of locals blocked the road and staged protest demanding presence of NHAI officials and the district administration on the spot,” another man from legal profession expressed.
On being informed, police reached the spot and tried to convince the agitators after sending Pradhan’s body for post-mortem.
PNN