Though the rain for two days gave respite from the intense heat wave condition, it brought worries for the municipal authorities and locals in the town. With the water unable to drain out from the gutters due to faulty construction process and deposit of silt, the rain water mixed with filth spilled over to roads at many places and exposed lack of preparedness of the civic body for rainy days.
The town received about 24 mm of rainfall on Thursday and Friday. Coupled with mild drizzle and overcast condition, the town got relief from the scorching summer.
After the rain on Thursday evening, the residents along Baraipali-Khetrajpur road were found working hard to drain out water which entered their houses. As no maintenance work of drains and roads has been undertaken since 1990s, the black surface has washed away with puddles scattering the road.
The situation was no better in other places where there are drains. The six feet deep drains are filled with silt and garbage.
Even as people fought to drain out water, the garbage dumped on the road side has begun emitting a stink after the rain. Normally during summer, pre-monsoon preparations including desiltation of drains and cleaning are taken up prevent water logging in the monsoon. With sanitation in Sambalpur Municipality virtually collapsing and garbage not collected, the municipality seems to have sidelined the issues.
A resident of Baraipali under Ward 26 said after repeated complaints to the Collector and Executive Officer of the Municipality, the authorities have failed to evoke any response on the issue. He also submitted a written complaint to get the drain of Baraipali-Rail Nagar road cleaned. But except assurance, no visible step has been taken, he added. It has been for more than two months that he had not spotted any sanitation worker in the area to clean the road and drain, he claimed.
Even as the Collector has been replaced with the Additional District Magistrate (ADM) as Administrator of the civic body, the civic body is yet to finalise an agency for cleaning work in the town on the plea of the model code of conduct. It could have undertaken the cleaning work on rotation basis as the municipality has more than 500 staff.
When contacted, Executive Officer of the municipality Aniruddha Pradhan expressed helplessness but said cleaning work has been outsourced on a temporary basis. He feigned ignorance about the sanitation condition in the town exposing the functioning of the municipality.