BHUBANESWAR: The Assembly standing committee on Housing and Urban Development department on Tuesday, October 5, 2021, asked the State government to prepare a comprehensive master plan to resolve the issues of waterlogging and drainage systems during the monsoon in the Twin cities of Bhubaneswar and Cuttack.
Officials of the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) and Cuttack Municipal Corporation (CMC) had a horrid time as legislators belonging to both the ruling BJD and Opposition Congress wanted to know the reasons behind the continued waterlogging at some places of the two cities for years together despite expenditure of huge funds to correct the situation.
It was decided that teams from the House committee headed by chairman Prafulla Samal will visit different vulnerable points identified by the BMC before submitting a proposal to the State government to allocate additional funds to either cover the open drains or erect 10-ft-high nets on both sides of the drains.
Former mayor of BMC and BJD MLA from Bhubaneswar central constituency Anant Narayan Jena said that the process will start soon with the House committee members visiting selected vulnerable points to assess the work started by the BMC. He said that the BMC has identified 75 vulnerable points in the entire city.
Chairman of the panel Samal said that encroachment over drains in the two cities will be removed immediately. Besides, the issue of drains passing through private land will also have to be resolved. He said that the committee asked different departments including water resources, works and urban development to maintain coordination for completion of work in time.
Congress MLA from Cuttack-Barabati constituency Mohammad Moquim said it was decided that drain work undertaken with JICA assistance will be expedited in Cuttack. It was decided that the box drain work in Cuttack city will be completed in November and a detailed project report for several other drains will be submitted soon. “Thorough discussion was held on the drainage system of Cuttack and Bhubaneswar. The BMC and CMC authorities placed detailed plans for improvement of the drainage system,” he added.
Samal said that another meeting of the committee will be held after the submission of a comprehensive plan by the State government for improvement of the drainage system and tackling waterlogging in the two cities.