The New Year seems not to have started with a happy note for the residents in Rayagada as a series of road accidents caused much unease.
Traffic got jammed due to overturning of a coal loaded truck bearing number 05-AC-3039 near Ashoka cinema hall. It rammed into the road divider and turned turtle while saving a speeding motorbike.
Binayak Palei, president of Rayagada College Student Union and a few of his friends were injured. Police lifted the truck and coal from the road and detained the driver.
Similarly, another truck rushed into a paddy field near Hata-Muniguda Chowk. It took almost a week to lift the stuff carried by the vehicle from the paddy field. The owner of the field was not compensated for the damaged either.
On the State highway-14 at Gumma Ghat, 10 km from the district eadquarters, did occur yet another fatal accident causing a road blockade for almost six days. A huge truck carrying an electric transformer of BHEl weighing around 200 tons overturned on the middle of the road leaving no space left even for cycles and motorbikes to pass on. The road is the lifeline for Rayagada-Koraput commuters and Utkal Alumina International limited (UAIl). Though the road was blocked for six days, the district administration was callous. Finally a crane was hired from the ancillary company of UAIl from Tikiri to clear the road.
“As scores of bulkers and tankers are illegally plying on this unsafe and undulated road, some spots have become accident prone. The road transport authorities have nefarious links with the vehicle owners. There is an MVI-cum-Assistant RTO stationed at Kerada bordering AP. The bridge near Majhighariani temple is very old. There is no functional weigh-bridge at either side of Rayagada town. The heavy vehicles are taking this advantage. Monitoring and inspection are non-existent,” said Ajay Ratha, a local.