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Truck drivers block highway

Photo: Lingaraj Panda

On the warpath: Truckers staging a roadblockade on the outskirts of Berhampur on Monday. —

BERHAMPUR: Angry truck drivers blocked the National Highway Number 5 on the outskirts of the city for 10 hours from Sunday night till 9 am on Monday.

They were protesting against attack of highway robbers on trucks near Phulta village. The irony was that despite their attempts they could not make contact through the 100 telephone number of the police. The truck drivers got angry when despite their several attempts to contact police; no police patrol reached the spot to track down the miscreants. Till morning no policemen had reached the spot of road blockade although hundreds of vehicles were stranded throughout the night due to this blockade.

Berhampur Sub-Divisional Police Officer Dhananjay Swain, who rushed to spot in the morning after receiving information about the blockade, admitted that the police emergency call number 100 was defunct in Berhampur. This incident also put doubts on the claims of police patrolling on the highway during night. The angry truck drivers lifted the road blockade at around 9 am on Monday following promises of adequate security and patrolling on this stretch of the highway. Mr Swain also promised to get 100 police emergency number functional. According to the truck drivers, a group of three youths alleged to be highway robbers had started pelting large stones at the windshields of trucks travelling on the highway near Phulta. More than forty trucks were damaged. The drivers and helpers in these trucks were injured. Injured drivers like Prasanna Panda alleged that it was a regular technique of these robbers on this stretch of highway. When a truck stopped to check the damages or injuries the waiting robbers pounced on it to loot cash and cargo in the truck.

Despite all this the 100 number had remained defunct till afternoon in the city. When it was number was dialled at around 4.45 pm, there was no reply from the other side although the number was ringing.

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