Cuttack, Oct. 10: Vehicular traffic on Cuttack-Chandbali road was affected for over four hours following a road blockade by residents of Naiguan village under Salepur police station limits.

Alleging that no concrete measure had been taken by the officials to trace the body of Ashish Kumar Bhoi, who had gone missing after he slipped into deep waters at the Sisua barrage, the local villagers staged a demonstration today.

“It is a complete negligence on part of the officials, who have failed to trace the body even after two days of the incident,” said Prakash Swain, an agitator.

The police said Ashish, a Plus Two first-year student of Salepur College, had gone missing, along with his friend Sabyasachi Patnaik, in the barrage since last Saturday.

Around 25 students had gone to the barrage for picnic. Of them, four students had slipped into the deep waters while they had gone to wash utensils after their lunch.

Though the local residents rescued two students — Chandan Kumar Bhoi and Sarada Prasad Behera — Sabyasachi Patnaik and Asish Bhoi went missing.

The body of Sabyasachi was fished out from the barrage the next day. Ashish’s body is yet to be traced.

Following the assurance from local tehsildar Dilip Parida and the police, the road blockade was lifted around 2pm.

“The local villagers were demanding immediate measures to trace the body of the missing student. Efforts are also being initiated to fish out the body from the water,” said Salepur inspector in-charge Arjun Charan Barik.