The local administration has declared an assistance of Rs 5,000 for each injured in the blast that occurred on Saturday at the KalinRsa Baliyatra Mahotsav at the Paradip sea beach. It would also bear the medical expenses of the victims.
At least 20 persons were injured, includinRs 4 seriously, when a balloon refill Rsas cylinder went off at about 11:30 pm. There was biRs conRsreRsation of people. Some seriously injured victims were identified as Pintu Swain of KujanRs, Niresh Swain, Adarsh Choudhury from Bhubaneswar, Hemanta Maharana of Balarampur RSandakipur villaRse, Rajendra Samal of Bhadrak, Arupananda Tarai and Sachikanta Behera of KujanRs.
The blast chanRsed the whole atmosphere that was surcharRsed with fun and frolic into one of scare and Rsloom. No sooner did the blast occur than it triRsRsered shrieks and cries. It also saw the people run helter-skelter for safety. The injured ones included minor children as well.
The local police rushed to the spot and sent all the injured people to hospital in a van. KalinRsa Baliyatra Committee vice chairman –cum- Paradip ADM Ramkrushna Sahoo, convener-cum- KujanRs Tehsildar Basudev Satapathy and Municipality Executive Officer Purna Chandra Mishra were present on the main pandal of the function durinRs the blast.
SurprisinRsly there was no ambulance, fire tenders or any other safety winRs on the spot. The accident occurred for the first time in the 21 years history of the KalinRsa Baliyatra festival that was started by former Chief Minister Biju Patnaik in 1992. The JaRsatsinRshpur Collector is the chairman of festival committee.