KENDRAPARA: Two sluice gates of a saline embankment, around two km from the sea, caved in on Sunday night at Bijulia, causing extensive damage to agricultural land in Dhaneswarpur, Tarapada, Mangarajpur , Gobardhanpur, Praharajpur, Olasahi, Naukoni and other villages of Rajnagar block.
Arabinda Mallick of Tarapada alleged the gates collapsed due to sub-standard work. “The authorities should take action against officials responsible for poor construction of the sluice gates,” he said. Similarly, Haladhar Das of Naukoni said the weak saline embankments and sluice gates are of little use as they are unable to prevent flow of water into agriculture land during high tide.
Seawater often enters the villages during high tide due to the poor condition of saline embankments and sluice gates. Around 40 sluice gates in the seaside villages of Rajnagar and Mahakalapada blocks are on the verge of collapse. But the authorities are yet to repair them, alleged vice-chairman of Mahakalapada block Bijaya Shukla.
Assistant engineer of Irrigation department, Rajnagar Bhanja Kishore Rout said sandbags were placed at both the gates on Monday to check ingress of saline water into agriculture land. “We will replace the sluice gates soon,” he assured.