BHUBANESWAR: The Capital’s denizens faced the wrath of over flooding yet again with roads getting inundated in several parts, after the City witnessed rains in a ‘single spell’ on Saturday. The worst affected stretch was between Iskcon Temple and Nayapalli and several vehicles were left stuck in the water. The over flooding was up to the bonnets of the four-wheelers and the owners were either forced to desert their vehicles or seen asking locals for help. Some locals came to the rescue of the four-wheeler owners and helped to take the vehicles out of the inundated roads.
The situation near Iskcon Temple was chaotic with four-wheelers lying submerged in water on the road and buses taking the same route for going towards Jaydev Vihar and Acharya Vihar. The over flooding water menace near Iskcon Temple is not new and has been troubling the denizens from the last several years, but the authorities have turned a blind eye towards the serious issue. The other locations in the Capital which witnessed water logging are Jaydev Vihar, Soubhagya Nagar and Unit-IV. The rain has exposed a shabby drainage system in the State Capital, however, Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) officials defended themselves by stating that the worst affected areas have been service roads along the National Highway 16, which caters to a major section of the traffic during the peak hours.
“The construction of a drainage and a culvert near Syed Mumtaz Ali High School has started. Once the work is complete, the storm water in the area will be discharged into a nearby lake through the drain,” Bhubaneswar Mayor Ananta Narayan Jena told The Express. “We have also requested the Works Department, Government of Odisha, for conducting a survey about the water logging issues in the service roads along the National Highway 16,” the Mayor added.
