Residents block National Highway 203 at Kalpana Square in Bhubaneswar after the death of a person there on Sunday morning. Picture by Ashwinee Pati

Bhubaneswar, May 27: Tension gripped Kalpana Square area following the death of an elderly person in a road accident on the National Highway 203 connecting Cuttack and Puri this morning.

Vehicles were seen stranded on both sides of the highway for more than an hour as angry local residents blocked it by burning tyres.

Sixty-two-year-old Gajendra Jena of Badagada was crushed under the wheels of a truck around 10am while crossing the highway on his bicycle this morning. The killer truck was coming from the Kalpana Square side.

A traffic policeman deployed at the square said that when he gave the truck the signal to stop and let vehicles from the Badagada side to cross the road, the truck driver did not stop and moved forward to run over the cyclist.

“I saw the truck driver was talking over phone and while trying to give space to a car, he could not spot the cyclist and ran over him,” said the traffic policeman. He also said that the truck then fled towards Bomikhal. The traffic constable gave it a chase before intercepting it at Laxmi Sagar Square. “The truck was seized and its driver was arrested,” he added.

The police rushed Jena to Capital Hospital, where he was declared brought dead. As the news of his death spread, the residents of Badagada gathered at the accident spot and blocked the highway. “We want compensation for the family members of the deceased. Besides, we want the police to stop heavy vehicles from plying on this stretch of the highway that passes through the city,” said Fuku Mohanty, a local resident. They continued their protest for more than one hour burning tyres on the road.

Residents staying in both sides of the highway that passes through the city have been complaining for long that the area has become accident-prone. The Kalpana Square crossing has become a nightmare particularly for cyclists and pedestrians.

The local residents also alleged that the narrow road, which was landlocked from both sides by various establishments and several other buildings, has been obstructing smooth vehicular movements on the road.

“Besides illegal parking on the road by those coming to the shops here, encroachment by various vendors have also added to making the road accident-prone. A number of unnecessary median-cuts and lack of a zebra crossing on this road are also to be blamed for a number of accidents here,” said Mita Agarwal, a resident of Laxmi Sagar.

On the morning of April 9, a man died after he was buried under the debris of a godown that collapsed after being hit by a truck at Old Station Square on this highway. Police sources said that at least five persons died on this stretch of the highway in past three months. The road logs 20,000 to 22,000 passenger car units (PCU) per day. The PCU is a measure to define the vehicular pressure exerted on a road.

Traffic police officials said though there had been a restriction on the entry of heavy vehicles into the city on the National Highway 5, there was no restriction of vehicular movement on the NH-203 as it was the only link to Puri through the city.

“We deploy our policemen to streamline the traffic flow, but some errant drivers are responsible for such accidents,” said a senior traffic police officer adding that accidents occurred on this road on a regular basis.

Keeping in view the growing vehicular traffic movement on this highway and lack of land on either side for its expansion, the National Highways Authority of India has started building a bypass from Palasuni to Daya Bridge.

“We have used the available land on both sides of the road to expand it. But, most of the land here is under private possession, which we cannot get,” said B.C. Pradhan, chief engineer, NH division. He also said that the median-cuts had been constructed after discussing with the traffic police officials.