Rourkela: City beautification turns ugly for affected residents

ROURKELA: The transformation of the steel city in the run up to the FIH Men’s Hockey World Cup in January 2023 has turned a nightmare for the residents. The haphazard and hurried implementation of hundreds of projects at one go has spelt trouble for them on a daily basis.

About 250 road and drain projects are on in internal areas of the city at a cost of Rs 50-60 crores by nearly 50 contractors of the Rourkela Municipal Corporation (RMC) simultaneously. The majority of them being local contractors have nexus with the RMC’s JEs and Assistant Engineers (AEs) who hardly visit or monitor quality of works, alleged residents. Despite complaints, these JEs and AEs approve faulty work  and  brazenly defend the contractors before the RMC authorities, they further added.  

The Smart Road Phase 1 and 2 projects, storm water drains, beautification of important road junctions are currently on in the city.Residents of Chhend Colony said both sides of a narrow internal road was dug up for drain works and debris and earth left on the road for days blocking their entry to houses. Again, the difference of height in the drain and slab against the OSHB houses had become a headache for the residents. “Our grievances were addressed only after intervention of the Sundaragrh Collector Dr Parag Harshad Gavali and RMC Commissioner Dr Subhankar Mohapatra. But the list of complaints is long,” they said.

Sources said, the inter-locking cement tiles and glossy foot path tiles are being laid throughout the city by the contractors of Rourkela Smart City Limited, Works Department and the RMC haphazardly. While work at one site is left half-constructed, another site is being dug leading to traffic hassles for commuters as huge materials are found stacked on roads for days.

The RMC Commissioner said projects are being done on a massive scale and priority projects are taking most attention. “The drain and road construction design was revised six times to avoid inconvenience to the residents of low-lying areas of Chhend Colony. If low quality work is proved, the contractors are responsible for repair and maintenance for next one to two years,” he said.