PARADIP; Tension prevailed at the Paradip International Cargo Terminal (PICT) on Thursday following the death of a surveyor whose family was made to run from one hospital to another for his body.
The incident led to a standoff between workers, family members of the deceased and PICT officials. The security office near the terminal’s main gate was ransacked by protesters.
Sources said, Bholanath Swain, a contractual worker and surveyor from Dhanurbellari within Balikuda police limits, was run over by a moving forklift on the jetty at approximately 11:30 am. While Swain died on the spot, his family and other workdemanded his body be handed over to them. However, PICT officials informed them that Swain’s body had been sent to Port Hospital. But when Swain’s family went to the hospital they were unable to find his body.
Later, PICT officials clarified that the body had been shifted to the community health centre (CHC) at Atharbanki but Swain’s family was again unable to find it. Eventually, PICT officials stated the body had been transferred to Kujang CHC, but even there, the family could not trace it. Swain’s family members alleged that PICT officials had not handed over the body and deliberately misled them on its whereabouts, escalating tensions further. The situation turned hostile as the enraged workers started holding demonstrations while ransacking the security office.
