CUTTACK: When the government is spending crores towards the development of urban areas, there lies a road within the jurisdiction of Cuttack Municipal Corporation (CMC), which even after 75 years of independence is yet to be converted to pucca or concrete.
A concrete road has remained a distant dream for Mukameswar Sahi in Ward No 56 of CMC because of the civic body’s apathy. About 700 people of 110 families residing in Mukameswar Sahi depend on the half kilometre main road stretching from Uttamapur Panigada Chhak to their locality.
The residents consider the road as a historic one as Mahatma Gandhi who during his eighth visit to Odisha had come to Cuttack by walking on the Mukameswar road and crossing the Kathajodi river several times. Hence the residents who have named the road as ‘Gandhi Marga’ have kept the road encroachment free. But call it apathy or gross negligence of the civic body in coordinating with the Prachi Irrigation Division of the Water Resources Department and Road & Building department towards developing the road having historic significance.
“We can’t ascertain who is to develop our road as CMC, Water Resources, Roads, and Building Departments shift their responsibility to each other on the issue. The residents are facing a lot of inconveniences while the road becomes muddy in the rainy season,’’ said local resident Debendra Behera.
“What is the matter of regret is that 20 years have passed since the Mukameswar Sahi has come under the jurisdiction of CMC. In the meantime, though the local residents are said to have approached the Collector, CMC Commissioner over 100 times, the administration has been turning deaf ear with a plea that the roads belong to Water Resources Department,” said another resident Raj Kishore Mallik.
The residents have alleged that even though they have been paying taxes to CMC no officials of the civic body have come to take stock of the road for the last 20 years, despite repeated requests and reminders.
However, newly elected Mayor Subhas Singh said that necessary steps would be taken to address the issue. “We will depute our engineers to inspect the site and prepare an estimate for the development of the road very soon.”