BHUBANESWAR: With India Meteorology Department (IMD) forecasting heavy rain in the City in next 48 hours, the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) along with line departments has chalked out a strategy to fight water logging problem. BMC Commissioner Krishan Kumar at an emergency meeting told senior officials to remain vigilant during the rain. He said the off day and leave of all staff of BMC and Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA) have been cancelled so that better coordination can be done to tackle any emergency situation.
BMC officials said their office and Odisha Fire Services have pre-positioned nearly 30 water pumps at vulnerable locations. Besides, 22 additional pump sets have been kept ready as rains started pounding the City from Sunday evening. The Capital has been divided into 13 sub-zones. Each sub-zone will have five supporting staff including the Ward Officer who will be the contact person for that particular ward. The senior officials of the sub-zones will coordinate with PWD, PHEO, Fire Services, District Administration, OWSSB, CESU and Water Resources Department.
The Commissioner asked the PWD to keep a response team ready as many secondary drains along the main roads across the city belong to the department. The PWD team will be in touch with the Multi-Agency Control Room at BMC. Each line department will also depute an official to the control room for better coordination.The PWD and BMC teams were also asked by the Commissioner to keep 15 JCBs in reserve to attend emergency call. The sanitation workers of three major sanitation agencies - Jagruti, PMR and Ramkey will be on guard, they said.