BALASORE: Residents of Jaleswar, Bhograi and Baliapal blocks of Balasore district are a disgruntled lot after an 810-metre-long embankment of a tributary of Subarnarekha river collapsed few days back allegedly due to substandard quality of work by the contractor.
The villagers submitted a memorandum to 5T secretary VK Pandian, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, Water Supplies department and district collector in this regard on Saturday demanding a proper inquiry into the matter.
Sources said the embankment was constructed by the Irrigation Department of Balasore around a year back at a cost of Rs 30 lakh to cater to the communication woes of the blocks’ residents besides preventing soil erosion. As per the demand of the people, the department had used some contingency funds for the construction of the embankment but it collapsed during the incessant rain situation in the past few days.
Locals Gouri Shankar Pradhan, Ratnakar Giri and Deepak Pradhan alleged that the incident took place due to substandard construction work by the contractor and poor interference by the department officials.
As per information, residents of Kalikapur, Palasahi, Chhotkhanpur, Baiganbadia, Jhardpimpal and Uluda villagers are spending sleepless nights as the sea is marching menacingly towards the coast. They demanded that protection walls and embankments be erected over a three km radius to prevent soil erosion.
Villagers of Uluda and Kalikapur complained that they were facing difficulties in commuting. Though two bridges were constructed in the areas a few years back, they were of little help in preventing soil erosion. Meanwhile, the embankment had also become narrow and rough.
Though funds were spent in restoring the embankment during different periods of time earlier, they did not provide any permanent solution to the land erosion problem. Official sources said after a detailed inquiry, it was found that there are seepages at many places which further weakened the embankment and led to its collapse.
“The SDO and junior engineer were asked to come up with a permanent solution to the issue. They had submitted a design in August last year and the cost was estimated at Rs 80 lakh. However, the project work is yet to commence due to lack of funds. Meanwhile, concrete guard walls along with restoration of the embankment by using geo bags will be done once the project is passed by the government,” they added.