Come monsoon and potholes, puddles and slush reappear on the roads of Kendrapara town and its neighbouring areas. The town has almost been rendered a veritable hell due to the neglect of 144-year-old civic body.
The recent heavy and continuous rain has exposed the poor quality of road work executed by the Road and Building Department and municipality authorities.
Many roads that were repaired recently have been damaged in the rain that lashed the town in the past couple of weeks.
The quality of work is so bad that due to incessant downpour, the potholes have opened up. Roads have been damaged to such an extent that people have to wade through slush, said Manoj Satapathy of Kendrapara. Muddy and slippery roads also pose a threat to pedestrians and motorists.
The authorities had taken up repair work by filling up the potholes with loose soil and stones. But all those were washed away by rainwater.
Besides roads, sewarage system in the town is also in pathetic condition.
Water-logging in choked drains has led to rainwater mixed with filth and squalor flowing on the roads in many wards mainly due to mushrooming of unplanned and unauthorised structures which have made the lives of more than 90,000 people in the area miserable.
Drainage has been the main problem here for the last two decades.
The municipal authorities have still not taken steps to lay underground sewer lines in the town. Continuous neglect has made several parts of the town prone to water-logging even after a drizzle in Jayapura, Ranapada, Dilarpur, Mahipala, Icchapur, Talabaranga and Mirapatana.
Without no outlet for drainage, the water accumulating on the roads takes weeks to recede.
Even moderate rainfall for about one hour floods houses in the low-lying areas of Ranapada, Fakirabad and Tinimuhani.
When contacted, Chairman of Kendrapara Municipality Dhirendra Sahoo said, “We are repairing all the roads and potholes with the help of Roads and Building Department. All the encroachers will be evicted soon.”