BHUBANESWAR: Waking up to public anger over water logging along National Highway-16 passing through the city, the State Government on Wednesday sought urgent intervention of the Union Road Transport and Highway Ministry for an early solution. Expressing concern over water- logging and flooding of service lanes of NH-16 at several locations, particularly near Iskcon temple, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik requested Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari to direct National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) to resolve the problem.
Drawing Gadkari’s attention to the frequent water logging problem, the Chief Minister in a letter to the Union Minister said the service lane of NH-16 near Iskcon temple between CRPF Square and Nayapalli area of the city has been witnessing regular flooding during rains. “The area is getting inundated during rains, at times up to three feet of water, resulting in severe disruption of road traffic and damages to parked vehicles,” the letter said.
Occurrence of such ponding of rainwater for such long periods has been observed from the days of construction of solid high embankment of the National Highway without providing adequate discharge points and vantages, he said. “NHAI authorities have been intimated time and again about the concern. Constructing solid high embankments instead of viaducts aggravates the drainage issues by concentrating the rain water into the valleys,” he said adding, similar situation is also occurring near Jaydev Vihar Square, Rasulgargh, Palasuni and Pahala on NH-16.