Berhampur, Jan. 7: Four persons hurled two crude bombs and fired in the air on the premises of Khandadeuli gram panchayat office in Aska police limits of Ganjam district, about 35km from here today.

“Four youths came on two bikes and hurled bombs and shot at a contractor who was outside the panchayat office at 5.30pm. At the time, a meeting was being held inside the panchayat office,” said an eyewitness. The meeting was stopped abruptly, sources said.

Immediately afterwards, the four youths moved towards Khandadeuli village and hurled one bomb and fired in the air. There were no casualties, sources said.

Sources said the incident could have happened because of a dispute over selection of the beneficiaries of various schemes including Indira Awas Yojana, Madhu Babu Pension Yojana and so on. Some suspect political rivalry.

Inspector in-charge of Aska police station, Dillip Kumar Tripathy, however, said: “Investigation into the incident is on. It would be premature to guess what the reason behind the incident is at this moment,” he said.

Meanwhile in Angul, talks between the administration and agitating Raijharan villagers failed today, following which the villagers threatened to intensify the agitation.

The villagers — land losers affected by four industries, two of which are coal mines — have been blocking the Angul-Chhendipada-Deogarh road since December 27 demanding uniform rate of compensation and jobs to all landlosers.

The villagers blamed the district collector for the breakdown of talks.