A row over supply of construction materials for construction of the proposed Puri Government medical college and hospital between the local villagers and the Truck Owners’ Association resulted in a total closure of work and hundreds of loaded trucks were detained by the villagers on Tuesday.
After Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik laid the foundation-stone for the Rs200-crore project near Gopalpur close to the Puri-Konark marine drive road, the l&T company has been entrusted to execute it.
The Puri Truck Owners’ Association has been engaged by the company to supply building materials.
The youths of nearby villages have been demanding that they be entrusted the job. They on Tuesday sat on dharna and stopped unloading of materials from the trucks.
The villagers and the truck owners came face to face and there was a tussle. Sub-Collector Madhusudan Dash convened a meeting of the villagers, police and truck owners in the evening to resolve the issue. But after hours of discussion, no solution came out.
As per the schedule, admission to the medical college would begin from the 2017 session.