CUTTACK: Pandal hopping in Cuttack this time is going to be bumpy affair. Many roads leading to puja pandals are potholed and with rain lashing every now and then, commuting on these stretches has become an ordeal for revelers.
At several places, the bitumen topping has been washed away in heavy rain following substandard work done by the civic administration, Works Department and the JICA authorities.
Consider the case of Sutahaat. The road from Khatbin Sahi to Sutahaat and Mission Road is severely damaged. Similar condition can also be seen at Haripur, Pithapur, Bangali Sahi, Choudhury Bazaar and Jobra. Although bitumen patches were laid on the potholes, these have been washed away in the rain that has been lashing since Thursday.
The Cuttack administration had recently organised a preparatory meeting for the smooth conduct of Durga Puja. The meeting was presided over by Cuttack Mahanagar Puja Committee president and Collector Nirmal Chandra Mishra.
Keeping in view the forecast of excess rainfall in October, Mishra had laid emphasis on repair of roads in the City and directed authorities of Works Department, Cuttack Municipal Corporation (CMC) and JICA to undertake necessary repair works immediately and complete the same at the earliest. However, that has not been the case. Till Friday night, the CMC workers were seen laying patches on damaged roads in various areas including the road leading to Devi Gada which will be used for immersion of the idols on Wednesday. Sources in the Cuttack Mahanagar Puja Committee said had the repair works started earlier, the problem could have been solved to a large extent. "The repair work started very late and many projects of JICA were not completed on time," he said.
There are a total of 156 puja committees in Cuttack and 80 of them have come up with Durga idols. The rest are Hara-Parvati and Chaitanya idols.