A 15-year-old school student went missing after falling into an open sewer in Bhubaneswar on Sunday.
The 10th class student has been identified as Jyotirmay Behera who is a native of Palamamnda area near Baramunda.
According to reports, Jyotirmay fell into the floodwater-filled turbulent drain with his cycle near Satabdi Nagar Bank Colony in Siripur area while going to attend tuition classes.
In no time, he was swept away by the heavy current in the drain due to torrential rain.
Jyotirmay’s father told reporters, “Our son had come to his Sanskrit teacher for some project work. We forbade him not to go out of house since it was raining heavily, but he didn't listen."
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Fire brigade personnel, police and local residents have launched a search and rescue operation to trace the missing boy. Locals who are still clueless how the unfortunate incident happened however have blamed the State government and local city administration for mismanagement of drains.
Soon after the incident, Odisha Chhatra Congress workers staged a massive protest at Gandamunda square in the Capital city and blamed the careless and lackadaisical attitude of the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) authorities for the mishap.
Road communication in the area has come to a grinding halt as hundreds of Congress activists took to the streets shouting slogans against the government.
“BJD government has done nothing for the development of Bhubaneswar in their 21-years of rule. Drains at several areas of the Capital city have been left open which make them dangerous for the denizens during rainy season. Many people have been swept away in the flooded drains. But the State government seems to be in oblivion about the plight of the people,” said senior Congress leader Sura Routray.
(Edited by Suryakant Jena)