Bhubaneswar, July 25: A concrete slab of the under-construction Gurupriya bridge at Chitrokanda in Malkangiri, about 550km from here, collapsed in this afternoon.

The slab came off between poll Nos. 11 and 12 of the 910-metre-long bridge.

The slab collapsed when nearly 50 labourers were working on the spot. However, no one was injured.

The work of the project was to be completed by September last year.

The state government had started the project in 2000 but is yet to complete it.

"The project has been through a number of bad phases. The contractors had withdrawn from the project site because of Maoist threat. At present, the construction of the bridge is going on at a breakneck speed in the presence of security officials. We have set a target to complete the work by September. But, the collapse of the slab will delay the project. An inquiry will shortly be ordered," said a works department official.

Once the bridge comes up, it will connect Malkangiri's mainland to that of the "cut-off" area and provide access to nearly 30,000 tribal people living in 25 panchayats.

The cut-off area is considered a safe haven for the Maoists. The 25 panchayats remained cut-off from the mainland after the Chitrakonda reservoir was constructed in 1964 for the Balimela Hydel Project.

The foundation stone for the Gurupriya bridge had been laid in 1982 by the then chief minister J.B. Patnaik and later by chief minister Naveen Patnaik in 2000.

Though a number of attempts to build the bridge had been made by the government over the years, the work went on at a snail's pace primarily because of the Maoist threat.

With the state government's support, a Calcutta-based construction company is now building the bridge.

Beehive fencing

To prevent human-elephant conflict, a unique initiative of beehive fencing has been implemented at Sargitolia village at Joda block in Keonjhar district.

The Joda block being an elephant prone area, cases of human-elephant conflict is common.

Deforestation, degradation and fragmentation of their natural habitat are the result of the increasing human-elephant conflicts.

Incidents such as damage and destruction of property, farmers' crops and incidents involving injuries and sometimes death of people or elephants have become frequent here.