Title - Unmanned level crossing are death traps: Naveen Patnaik

Bhubaneswar: Concerned over deaths at unmanned level crossing in Odisha, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Sunday asked the Centre to take immediate steps to prevent such incidents.

In a letter to Railway Minister Mukul Roy, Patnaik said, at present there were over 600 unmanned railway level crossings in the East Coast Railway.

"As these crossings have become potential death traps, immediate steps should be taken by the Railways to either convert them into manned level crossings or construct road over/under bridges at these spots to avoid recurrence of such unfortunate incidents," the chief minister said.

Patnaik's letter came two days after death of 14 persons at an unmanned level-crossing at Khairapalli near Sambalpur. The victims were crossing the track in a tempo when the Rourkela-Bhubaneswar inter-city express knocked them down.