BARIPADA: With the urban elections approaching, the pending ring road and Jambhira drinking water projects are likely to become poll issues for residents in Baripada municipality who have been demanding completion of both since years.
For long, locals have been urging for a ring road for Baripada town to control frequent floods in Budhabalanga river. They were also hopeful of the Jambhira project under Suliapada block, which would resolve drinking water crisis in several wards of Baripada municipality. However, both the projects are hanging fire.
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had laid the foundation stone of the Jambhira drinking water project in 2013 and the deadline for completion was set at six months. But the project, as per official sources, started four years later and completion is nowhere in sight. Besides, the inordinate delay has resulted in a cost-overrun from Rs 53 crore to Rs 83.91 crore.
Chief Executive Engineer of Public Health Engineering Department (PHED), Baripada Circle, Bigneswar Pani informed that Jambhira drinking water project commenced in November 2017 and would be completed in November 2022. The aim of the project is to cater to the drinking water needs of residents of 28 wards in the town through pipelines.
This apart, the ring road project was announced by the CM in January 2019. The project was to protect town residents from the flood menace in Budhabalanga river. But three years on, the project is a non-starter. Secretary of Madhuban Development Committee Bikram Keshari Jena said more than eight wards were adversely affected during Cyclone Phailin and hopeful that the project would provide a solution to the problem of flooding. The committee had earlier met Secretary of Water Resources Pradip Jena in 2017 and voiced demands for a ring road. Jena had reportedly given consent and Mayurbhanj Irrigation Division was supposed to carry out the project. The following year, an 80-member delegation of the committee further met the CM in this regard.
Sources say, in October 2019, as per the direction of Chief Engineer of Roads and Building Division, a bank account was opened by Baripada PWD and Rs 3,000 was deposited from State Plan head as token money to be used for the project. But nothing has moved ever since. Voicing resentment, Rana Satyakam Senapati, a resident of ward no 6 said,” We were hopeful of the drinking water project as this is a pressing issue for us but there’s no sign of progress. The government must speed up the work.”