BHUBANESWAR: In yet another instance of poor monsoon preparedness by the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC), the civic body has decided to seek government funds for construction of two major drainage projects in the city at the start of the rainy season.
The two proposed drains are intended to tackle the perennial issue of waterlogging on the Iskcon Temple road in Nayapalli and Bomikhal road near Rasulgarh. However, the fact that the civic body made such a decision at a time when monsoon has already set in, has irked citizens with many questioning the timing for such action.
Sources said, the decision to approach the government for funds to take up construction of the drainage project near Iskcon Temple road and another drain on Bomikhal road, was taken by the civic body during a meeting held recently.
The 1.6 km drain near Iskcon Temple will link NHAI’s drain on the service road with the main drain near Nayapalli Haza, while the 1.5 km box drain on Bomikhal road will start from near Rasulgarh and culminate at the main drain near the Santoshi Maa Temple, to check heavy waterlogging, that occur every monsoon on these stretches.
Disgruntled over the same, residents questioned as to why the civic body waited for so long to act on these problems that resurface every year. “When it is an old issue and both the roads are dealing with the menace of urban flooding for years, why has the corporation woken up so late?” asked Jitendra Sahu, a resident from Old Town area who commutes on Bomikhal road regularly.
With monsoon making an early arrival, locals in both Bomikhal and Nayapalli area expressed fear that the delay in addressing the drainage infrastructure issues will only worsen the situation during heavy rains.
City engineer Bilash Kumar Behera said the civic body decided to approach the state government for the two projects as both the NHAI and Public Works department have not been able to complete the drain projects on the two stretches yet.
“The NHAI is still facing some issues in completing the drain along the NH-16 service road near Iskcon Temple, while the Bomikhal drain on the PWD road has also not been executed yet,” Behera said.
BMC officials said the civic body is in talks with both the PWD and NHAI for adequate preventive measures to deal with waterlogging issue on the two stretches this season.