Berhampur: Nearly 300 students of the Roland Institute of Pharmaceutical Science on Monday resorted to road blockade in front of their college on the National Highway No. 59, protesting against the death of a BPharma student in an accident at the same spot.
They were demanding Rs 10 lakh compensation to family members of the student, Sibasish Patra, immediate construction of humps in front of the college main gate on both sides of the highway, stop plying of heavy vehicles on the road and restrict speed of the vehicles that pass through the college to 20km per hour.
The students set afire unused tyres on the road, blocking it for hundreds of vehicles. They withdrew the agitation after Berhampur tehsildar Ranjit Kumar Parida, along with Sadar sub-divisional police officer Ashok Kumar Mohanty, BNPur police station inspector-in-charge J.K. Patnaik and his Gopalpur police station counterpart Susant Kumar Sahu, discussed the matter with them.
"The road blockade started at 8am and ended at 12noon," said Mohanty.
The authorities immediately installed speed breakers on both sides of the road in front of the college's main gate after consulting with the National Highways Authority of India.
The highway connects Gopalpur beach town with Raipur in Chhattisgarh (438km) and passes through Berhampur for 12km.
"Sibasish was a fourth-year student. He was scheduled to submit his project work in the seminar to be held on Tuesday as part of the course, after which the students are awarded degrees. He was a regular and meritorious student. It is a great loss for our institution," said senior faulty member of the college Sagar Suman Panda.
Sibasish, a native of Digapahandi, used to stay in a rented house at Saradhabali. He was coming to college on a bicycle when a bike hit him on Sunday afternoon.
Eyewitnesses said three students of Parla Engineering College were riding the bike which was coming in high speed. Rajiblochan Sethy, the biker, was also killed on the spot.
The two pillion riders were injured and shifted to AIIMS Bhubaneswar for treatment.
