Monsoon woes overflow on Bhubaneswar roads

BHUBANESWAR: With monsoon exposing the vulnerability of the Capital to flooding, the Urban Development Department on Wednesday asked the Drainage Division and Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) to take up land acquisition for  renovation of Drainage Channel No. 4 which has emerged as ‘Bhubaneswar’s Sorrow’.The drainage channel which runs along NH-5 takes a left turn near Acharya Vihar and suddenly its width is drastically reduced from 12 ft to about half. In addition, a 13-ft-long hume pipe that has been installed to drain out storm water accelerates the run-off to the low-lying areas and the subsequent flooding.At a high-level meeting here on Wednesday, it was informed that top priority had been accorded to land acquisition by Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation so that renovation of the channel work can be taken up at the  earliest.Minister Sharda Prasad Nayak directed the Drainage Division to make an estimate of at least five drainage channels and submit the report immediately. Bhubaneswar Development Authority has been directed to take up the work for channel no. 9.The meeting took up frequent flooding along Rasulgarh-Kalpana Square Road on NH-203, which is dotted with commercial establishments.  The State NH Division which looks after maintenance of the stretch was asked to come up with a solution within two days.Sources said, the particular stretch of NH 203 should have minimum 5-ft wide drains whereas a recent joint survey revealed that at certain patches drains do not exist at all. Besides, a 300-metre stretch has a hume pipe installed for storm  water passage and it now stands choked causing the surge.“While removing the hume pipe will be a massive exercise, the State NH Division suggested that the road needs to be cut for clearing the blockade. The Chief Engineer has been asked to come up with a solution in the next two days so that a review can be held three days later,” sources informed.Both the BMC and the Public Works Department have been asked to take up de-silting of the secondary and tertiary drains.