A 24-year-old man was killed in a hit-and-run near Kenduatand in Jharkhand’s Jamtara district on Monday night, prompting tribal protesters to block the Govindpur-Sahibganj national highway for four hours and demand compensation and immediate road safety measures.
Akash Soren, a resident of Bandih village in Deoghar district, was walking towards Udaipur in Pabia to attend a traditional jatra when he was struck by an unidentified vehicle, according to police. He died at the spot.
Following the crash, members of the tribal community blocked the highway at around 8.30pm. The protesters alleged that frequent accidents at the location had continued without adequate safety arrangements. The blockade led to a traffic queue extending 4-5 km on both sides of the highway and disrupted several night-service passenger buses.
The incident brought road safety and emergency response to the centre of the protest. The demonstrators sought financial assistance for Soren’s family, improved safety measures at the accident-prone stretch and the presence of health minister Irfan Ansari, who was in the area for the inauguration of the jatra.
Ansari briefly visited the site but faced protests over the alleged delay in arranging an ambulance before leaving, the report said. The account does not specify how long emergency services took to reach the location or whether the unidentified vehicle has been traced.
The highway blockade was lifted after police and district officials assured the protesters that financial assistance would be arranged for the deceased man’s family and that steps would be taken to improve road safety at the site. Narayanpur circle officer Devraj Gupta said the administration would examine the protesters’ demands and provide assistance under government provisions.
The disruption highlights how a fatal crash on a national highway can quickly affect public transport, freight and night-time mobility beyond the immediate accident location. In this case, vehicles remained stranded for several kilometres and passenger buses were affected until the administration secured the protesters’ agreement to clear the road.
The immediate administrative response now depends on the promised examination of the safety demands, the identification of the vehicle involved and the processing of assistance for Soren’s family. The supplied report does not provide details of any specific engineering intervention, enforcement action or deadline for those measures.
