Cuttack, Dec. 2: A college student suffered injuries on his hand and legs after he fell with his two-wheeler into a ditch dug up for construction of a sewer line at Gangamandir today.

Ronak Ram, 18, a BCom student of Christ College, fell into the 12ft ditch around 11am. He and his relative were on the two-wheeler moving towards Choudhury Bazaar from Markatnagar when the mishap occurred.

"I had a narrow escape as I landed on the motorcycle. I could have suffered more injuries had I been trapped under it as the ditch was filled with water," said Ram, adding that there was only 4ft area near the ditch for the movement of vehicles and pedestrians.

"The road was congested and I was forced to wait so that it gets cleared but I fell into the ditch as a motorcycle hit my two-wheeler," Ram said.

The Gangamandir road is one of the major arterial roads linking Choudhry Bazaar, Kazi Bazaar, Sutahat, Dewar Bazaar, Odia Bazaar and other prominent locations of the city.

"The construction, being carried out by the Japan International Co-operation Agency, has been going on for more than two months at a snail's pace, but no steps have been taken by the construction agencies to regulate the traffic here," said local resident Bijay Behera.

Qutubuddin Khan, an eyewitness, said authorities, including Jica, the corporation and others, should ensure that all major construction activities were done during night hours. Traffic personnel should be deployed near construction sites to avoid mishaps, Khan said.

Jica project director Basant Parida said senior officials had been asked to conduct a detail inquiry into the incident.

"We had earlier issued a direction to the agencies engaged in the construction to install proper barricades at the site and follow basic safety measures," said Parida, adding that action would be taken against the contractors and those found guilty.

The incident has irked local residents as no safety measures were adopted by construction agencies.