CUTTACK: Aided and abetted by administrative inaction, the Mahanadi river abutting Cuttack city is being buried one truck load of broken bricks and concrete debris at a time.
The day is not far when the mighty Mahanadi will not take it any longer and break its banks to wreak disaster in the Millennium City like the floods caused by river Mithi in Mumbai in 2005 or, more recently, the man-made Chennai floods of 2015.
Yet, neither the government nor the district administration or the civic body is awake to the catastrophe in the making.
Even the directions of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) to keep the river free from waste dumping is of no avail.
Openly flouting the orders, dumping of construction waste and garbage continues unabated on the Mahanadi river bed with the Cuttack Municipal Corporation (CMC) and district administration playing a wilful ally.
Not to talk of the illegal act by private people and organisations, the State Government itself is in complicity to the crime.
The agencies carrying out drainage and sewerage renovation works are openly dumping the waste on the river bed while the CMC too is not behind.
Expressing concern over the increasing unchecked pollution, environmentalist Pradipta Kishore Mishra said “Due to dumping of waste materials the river bed is narrowing down resulting in decrease in its water holding capacity beside pollution. If this is not checked in time, the river will overflow and plunder the city. The devastation will be unimaginable.”
After NGT asked the district administration on July 15, 2016 to keep Mahanadi and Kathjodi river beds free from dumping of garbage, household and construction of waste materials, the then Collector Nirmal Chandra Mishra had directed Cuttack Municipal Corporation (CMC) to ensure that no garbage is disposed of in the two rivers.
As per the direction of the Collector, State Water Resources Department had identified six places on Mahanadi bed and erected barricades to restrict entry of tractors and trucks carrying garbage to the river bed.
Similarly, several trenches were also dug up on Kathjodi river bed near Purighat to prevent entry of vehicles of individuals, institutions and establishments.
Two special squads were also formed and authorised to slap penalty on violators while the executive engineers of Mahanadi North and South irrigation divisions were asked to file complaints against the errant individuals and institutions for dumping garbage.
A few months after the restrictions, the fences were demolished and the dumping process resumed but the authorities concerned preferred to turn a blind eye to violation.
Meanwhile, no measure has been taken by Water Resources Department to assess the extent of abuse of Mahanadi in the city or initiate steps for clearing the river bed.
Outgoing Collector Aravind Agarwal had proposed to chalk out a new strategy with strict regulation to check waste dumping on the river bed.
The new Collector Bhabani Shankar Chayani will have to start from scratch and people hope that the time does not run out.