A 14-year-old boy drowned in the Bhargavi river at Haripur under the Balanga police station while bathing on Thursday. He was identified as Jagan Patra, son of Jayadev Patra of Haripur.
locals tried to save Jagan but were not successful. later, they recovered the body and staged a blockade with the body from 10 am to 5 pm on the Pipil-Konark road. The vehicular traffic was totally brought to a standstill on the State Highway at Haripur.
Getting information, forces from the Balanga, Pipil and Nimapara police stations rushed to the spot and persuaded the agitators to withdraw the road blockade, but the agitators refused.
The villagers alleged that the Government had auctioned the sand ghat of Bhargavi river at Haripur but the auctioneer lifted sand from river illegally by a boat machine.
As a result, the river bed had been deep.
They further said that due to high depth of the river, within threemonths, two persons have drowned in the place at the time of bathing.
Pipil SDPO Dillip Tripathy and Nimapara Additional Tehsildar lochana Das discussed with agitators and sanctioned Rs 10,000 from the Red Cross.
later, the road blockade was withdrawn.
