ROURKELA: A long-awaited project aimed at mitigating flooding and easing traffic congestion in Sundargarh district’s headquarters town is set to roll on after being stalled for five years.
Chief Minister, Mohan Charan Majhi, recently announced the project’s implementation, although he provided no specific timeline.
The project, which includes constructing an embankment along the Ib river and a ring road parallel to it, was brought up by Sundargarh MLA Jogesh Singh of the BJD during the current Assembly session. Singh inquired about the project’s status and the expected start date. In response, the CM explained that the project involves the construction of a river embankment and a ring road from Bhojpur to Bandhpali bridge, covering municipality wards 1, 2, 3, 7, and 8. The project was approved by the 129th Technical Advisory Committee for the Flood Control Board on December 27, 2019, with an estimated cost of `84.39 crore.
The CM stated that steps for implementation would follow once funding is approved. The proposal was initially approved during the tenure of former BJP MLA Kusum Tete but got shelved.
Singh emphasised the project’s necessity to protect Sundargarh town from monsoon flooding and to alleviate traffic congestion.
He highlighted the impact of upstream barrages built by the Chhattisgarh government, which cause the Ib river to run dry during summer and flood during monsoon when water is released.
Further, he said the increased vehicular traffic through Sundargarh town is due to the rising coal mining activities in the Hemgir block.
The Water Resources department had prepared a detailed project report for the embankment and ring road, but implementation was delayed.
Stressing on the urgency of constructing the embankment, particularly as two new barrages are planned downstream at Kopsingha and Kurabaga for water storage, Singh said without the embankment, backwater from these barrages could inundate low-lying areas of the town.
Once the ring road is operational, traffic heading towards Rourkela will bypass the town centre, directly connecting to State Highway 10.