CUTTACK: Heavy rains in the last few days have again exposed the ugly face of drainage facility in Cuttack. Lack of planning and coordination among different wings of Cuttack Municipal Corporation (CMC) in cleaning the drains has left the citizens suffering even after a short spell of rain. Locals blame inordinate delay in starting drain desilting work besides execution of cleaning work without planning for the failure to tackle artificial flooding in the city.
They fear that a 2007- like situation may not be far. In that year, the city faced the worst ever waterlogging with most parts of the city remaining submerged for two days. Considering the matter and the plight of the citizens, Orissa High Court had directed CMC to complete desilting and maintenance work of drains by May 31 every year, but unfortunately for the locals the civic body never manages to complete work in time. Congress Corporator Giribala Behera said, “the desilting work should ideally start in April. But, CMC habitually delays and starts it in May.
How would it be possible to complete the work within the scheduled time without providing additional manpower to make up work for the delayed time.” “The silt removed from drains is dumped closer to drains for days together and it again finds its way into the drains after every shower,” said Prasant Samal of Sutahat. Despite avowed claims to shift the silt removed from drains immediately, the CMC authorities are turning a deaf ear.
Besides choking the drain, the silt dumped on roads is leading to foul smell and unhygienic road condition posing inconvenience for the locals while commuting on the routes. Locals have demanded that immediate steps be taken to shift the silt dumped on the banks of drains thus saving themselves the trouble of redoing the same silt removal job again and again, opined intellectuals.