The construction of the bridge over river Kusei at Belbahali village in Anandpur in Keonjhar district took a violent turn on Friday when the villagers clashed with the police after the latter lifted the red flags put up by the villagers demarcating their village limit.
Two police personnel including a Sub-Inspector were injured during the faceoff. Police had to lob teargas shells to disperse the mob.
Notably, the project has been executed amid protests from the villagers. Though the villagers requested shifting of the proposed bridge site fearing it would pave way for floods in the area, but the administration retained the site.
Earlier on July 7 last year, residents of several villages along the banks of the river had clashed with the police while protesting the decision of the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) and the district administration to construct the bridge on NH-215 near Belbahali.
Due to protests the NHAI had appointed an expert team comprising experts from IIT Kharagpur to re-examine the location of the proposed bridge. The Orissa High Court too upheld the decision of the NHAI and directed to construction of the bridge at the proposed site.