ROURKELA: For more than 16 months, residents of the densely populated areas along the Rourkela main road and commuters have been facing unprecedented traffic snarl-up and power disruption amid slow pace of drainage and road widening works.
A reality check shows that drain construction works are being haphazardly done on both sides of the highly congested main road stretch near Mangal Bhawan. Digging works, mindless dumping of construction materials and erratic parking of vehicles are making life difficult for shop-keepers, commuters and even pedestrians.
Similarly, the remaining portion of the road has been damaged due to pipeline works of the Public Health and Engineering Department (PHED).
Such difficulties have been going on for long due to lack of coordination among various executing agencies. Judicious regulation of traffic and parking of vehicles could have mitigated the problems, said Sanjay Jain, a resident.
The Public Works Department (PWD) is working on the widening of 3-km stretch of the main road from Ambedkar Square to Bisra Square. After six months till December 2015, it could complete road and parallel drain works covering only 200 metres at an estimated cost of around `one crore.
PWD Assistant Engineer N K Dalabehera said so far, a total of 2.8 km drain work on both sides has been completed and the remaining 200 metres till Daily Market High School would be completed by January at a combined cost of around ` two crore. He attributed the delay to shifting of electric post, pipelines and cables and continuous flow of heavy traffic.
Rajesh Sahu, a resident, said Wesco resorts to eight hours of daily power-cut for more than a week to shift electric posts. He said given the present pace of work, they are unaware as to how long it will take to complete the work.
RMC Commissioner AK Mallick said the PWD has been asked to complete the work at the earliest and necessary steps would be taken to mitigate the suffering of the people.