Odisha to construct more sluice gates on Baitarani embankments

BHUBANESWAR :  A day after BJP criticised the State government for its poor flood management post-cyclone Yaas, the Water Resources department on Friday decided to construct 4-5 sluice gates on the left and right embankments of Baitarani river.

The decision was taken at a high-level meeting chaired by Water Resources Minister Raghunandan Das in the presence of BJD MLAs from Ghasipura, Badrinarayan Patra and Korei, Ashok Bal. The Minister directed Chief Engineer of the department Jyotirmay Rath to undertake immediate repair of the faulty sluice gates and construct more gates wherever required. 

He further directed to identify weak points on the river embankment and strengthen them before the onset of monsoon. The two BJD MLAs had drawn the attention of the Minister to flooding in some areas due to lack of sluice gates. As large parts of Bhadrak, Balasore,Jajpur and Kendrapara districts are still under flood water, senior BJP leader and former Revenue minister Manmohan Samal on Thursday dubbed it as manmade disaster and blamed the government for ignoring the long-standing demands of people of these districts for repair and maintenance of the faulty slice gates,

He said a house committee of the Odisha Assembly had made some recommendations in 2008 basing on which the State government should take immediate steps for renovation of all drainages and sluice gates.