BHUBANESWAR: Homes literally turning into pools and outside, cars and bikes into boats sailing along with the current! A spate of low-pressure induced rains and Bhubaneswar – the much tom-tommed member of Top 20 global Smart Cities and more recently ranked 32 among best 50 Smart City Governments – collapsed into a filthy swamp. Laying bare all the sham chest-thumping of the State Government and Bhubaneswar municipal administration over purported implementation of smart solutions, the Capital of Odisha on Monday presented a picture of a completely failed city, with crumbling urban infrastructure and civic systems. The whole city turned into a landscape gripped by severe floods not only disrupting normal life but also pushing the citizens across localities into acute misery. Water gushed into homes, which even a year back had not witnessed any water-logging outside their gates not to mention invading the precincts.
From a City that would dry out in flat 20 minutes after being pounded by showers, many parts of Bhubaneswar on Monday drowned after a bout of morning rains. That’s some progress the Capital City has made in last 20 years. Much thanks, of course, to Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) and the city managers, every part of the Capital now has an ordeal to share. From people living in low-lying areas in Acharya Vihar to those residing in Patia; from Bomikhal to Jayadev Vihar; Palasuni to Patia, none has been spared by BMC’s inefficiency.
Mindless approval to construction on natural drainage systems by Bhubaneswar Development Authority has wrecked havoc in the City which is now bursting at the seams. That places like Sailashree Vihar, located on an elevated topography, have started facing flooding speaks volumes about the rot that has set in. Yet, the Government appears to be in deep slumber, unwilling to acknowledge its mistakes and make amends. Rather, the Smart City ratings that put Bhubaneswar ahead of Paris are flashed as badges of honour.
For a City that has been facing acute water-logging, its drainage system has gone from bad to worse. Many parts of the Capital, where the JICA-funded drainage project has been complete, water-logging has been acute, so flawed is the execution on the ground. Moreover, a complete absence of coordination among agencies such as Odisha Water Supply and Sewerage Board (OWSSB), Works Department, National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) and Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation has left denizens at the mercy of nature as fresh problems of flooding are cropping up each passing year.
The faulty designs and engineering have resulted in non-evacuation of storm water leading to flooding not only in residential areas but also along major thoroughfares. The National Highway 16 passing through the City has exposed the mess that Bhubaneswar is in today. In many places, drainage works by BMC have been pending for years adding to the woes of denizens while construction by OWSSB has taken inordinately long to complete.If that is not all, most parts of the City were cut up on the run up to the monsoon for cable laying, drainage and other works leaving Bhubaneswar in a complete mess. Now, no one has any clue how to clean it up.