BHUBANESWAR: Continuing its eviction drive, the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Monday removed encroachments from Science Park slum here to revive a box drain project that was planned in 2014 to divert excess water from drainage channel no 4 and prevent flooding in Acharya Vihar during heavy rains.
Amid protest by the locals, a joint enforcement squad of BMC, Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA) and Bhubaneswar Smart City Limited (BSCL) demolished a 100 feet boundary wall and 15 sheds to take up the project work. The civic body’s move comes after heavy rains on July 16 caused severe water logging in Acharya Vihar.
The Cuttack Drainage Division of the Water Resources department had started work on the box cell drain on a 577 metre stretch at a cost of over `10 crore in 2014 and completed 200 metre stretch. However, work was stopped after the drainage division was brought under BMC’s engineering wing.
Sources said after severe public criticism following the July 16 deluge, the Housing and Urban Development department approved the pending project with a budgetary allocation of around `5.14 crore. BMC’s drainage division will now execute the project to complete the work on the remaining 377 metre stretch.