Sambalpur: A 61-year-old man died in a hit-and-run case near Badahindol Chowk on NH-55 under Charmal police station limits on Monday afternoon.
The deceased was identified as Yadav Munda of Badahindol village. According to locals, Munda was returning home after taking bath in a roadside pond on the other side of the highway when a speeding vehicle hit him while he was crossing the road. He was immediately taken to Rairakhol sub-divisional hospital but was declared dead on arrival.
Charmal police have registered a case and begun an investigation to trace the vehicle and its driver.
Rairakhol SDPO Prashant Kumar Meher said, “It was an unknown vehicle and as per witnesses, it was an SUV.”
The incident angered villagers who blocked NH-55 for two hours, demanding compensation for Munda’s family and immediate measures to prevent further accidents. They highlighted the lack of a pedestrian crossing facility and the village’s ongoing water crisis, which forces residents to use the roadside pond.
Rukmani Padhan, a protester, said, “We demand a water facility in the village; every one of us is going to the pond crossing the highway.”
Rairakhol tehsildar Prabhat Ranjan Biswal, the SDPO and Charmal police station’s IIC Sanjay Kumar Sahu arrived at the site and pacified the protesters. The officials gave Rs 10,000 in financial aid from the Red Cross fund and assured a solution to their grievances. Following this, the villagers withdrew the blockade.
“The villagers have demanded a borewell in their village so that they won’t have to cross the highway to take a bath,” the SDPO said.