BHUBANESWAR: Waterlogging woes of Capital city residents continued as low pressure induced rains battered Bhubaneswar for the second consecutive day on Monday.With rain water entering many houses in the Smart City, people had to shift their family members to safety. As the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) failed to drain out water, many took it upon themselves to find a solution.
At Bhagabat Sandhan colony in Rasulgarh, nine members of Debashis Mishra’s family including his ailing mother shifted to the first floor of their house with the ground floor entirely flooded since Sunday. Mishra said that this is not the first time they faced such a situation. “BMC has not been desilting the drain in this locality regularly which is why the entire colony gets flooded with drain water even with the slightest of rains. Although a pump is used to drain out water, it is of little help.
At Pokhariput, a group of four doctors staying in a society which was under knee-deep water had to remove some slabs on the drain for the water to recede in the evening. Earlier in the day, they had to walk through the flooded road to reach their cars which were parked at a distance for safety from storm water. “Reaching our hospitals today was quiet a task. We tried to contact the BMC’s drainage division but no one responded. After returning from work, we decided to remove some slabs from the drain passing close to our society after which, water receded”, said Sourav Mishra, an oncologist.
If this was the condition of colonies, the situation at slums was worse. In a video that went viral on social media, a blind man can be seen taking out water using an utensil from his house at Naveen Nagar Basti.