Vehicular traffic to the Defence establishments of Chandipur, Chandipur sea beach and Balaramgadi fishing base was thrown out of gear as enraged residents of Baleswar under the banner of a Suraksha Manch staged picketing on Monday demanding immediate repair of the unsafe road that connects the Station Square with Patrapada via Chandipur.
The picketing continued from 5 am to 1 pm. As vehicular movement stopped during this peak period, the daily commuters, beach goers, fishing community members and Defence establishment personnel bore the burnt.
The Defence units like ITR and PXE could hardly function in the absence of employees and scientists. Though the director of ITR and PXE assured the agitators that the repair and renovation work would begin from April next year, the latter remained unmoved.
The picketers cleared the road at Bankakhajuri only when the district administration intervened. ADM Akshay Mohanty, sadar tehsildar Pinaki Pattnaik and Town PS IIC Manas Deo pacified the agitators.
“The Defence authorities have assured us to begin the repair work by April next year. There would be a meeting with representatives of the agitators and Defence establishment in the Collectorate this evening to thrash out the issues,” said tehsildar Pattnaik. Abhay Das, Ramchandra Patra and Bijay Panigrahi were among others who led the agitation.