CUTTACK: After waiting for the Cuttack Municipal Corporation (CMC) to construct a road for them for a decade, residents of Sriram Colony in Jagatpur here have taken on the stupendous task of building it on their own.
The civic body failed to construct a road even after repeated requests over the years by the residents. Fed up by the apathy, the residents decided to do it themselves by contributing money from their own pockets.
Sources said more than 30 families are residing in Sriram Colony, 150 metre away from Cuttack-Chandbali state highway. However, the residents had been facing problems in communication as the 150 metre-long kutcha road from the highway to the colony becomes unusable during rainy season.
Situation often worsens with heavy rains causing overflowing of a pond adjacent to the road resulting in knee-deep water over it for days together. As there is no drainage system, the colony has to remain marooned during the rainy season.
The residents claimed that they had approached the civic body several times with their demand for construction of a proper road but to no avail. “The CMC authorities turned a deaf ear to addressing the problem. With no other option, we decided to build the road ourselves and brought a JCB machine to start constructing the road,” said a resident Ashok Kumar Sahu.
“During elections, local political leaders who come to us for votes too promise to make efforts for the road but after polls they forget it. The elected Council is no longer in force and Cuttack is being administered by babus now. The so-called efficient babus are no better,” rued another resident Akhay Samal.
CMC Executive Engineer DR Tripathy, who declined to comment on the issue, said steps would have been taken for construction of the road.