Bhubaneswar’s open drains back in focus

BHUBANESWAR: A Korean photographer falling into an open drain and injuring himself has brought to the fore the fact that though authorities have left no stone unturned to make the city presentable for the Men’s Hockey World Cup, some civic problems continue to pose problem.
After the mishap, the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) took stock of the situation and directed its drainage wing team and enforcement squad to inspect and cover all drains. The drain in which the Korean national fell belonge to works department. So, it reflected that there was lack of coordination as a result of which a particular stretch of drain remained uncovered by concrete slabs, a standard practice for drains running along major arteries.
Jagabandhu Rao, executive engineer (division-II) of works department, said the drain that was open is the conjunction of drain of National Highway Authority of India and his department. We had constructed concrete slabs to place those on the drain close to the culvert (that joins NHAI and works department drain) but somebody has removed those, said Rao. The slab has been placed subsequently for the safety of people.
BMC said like monsoon patrolling, till hockey is there, patrolling will resume to ensure no drain remains open. The BMC said the natural drainage channels at several intersections (where one drain meets another or more) are exposed and there are huge gaps. They have been covered with iron nets at many places and at some places barricades have been put up to prevent mishaps. But mischief- mongers remove them at times for which regular inspection is required.
While the drainage division of BMC handles 10 natural drainage channels along with drains of 10 wards, the private agencies hired by BMC look after drains of remaining 57 wards. The BMC has altogether 320-km length of internal drains (drains in wards and along sub-arteries). While stating that the Korean national mishap place didn’t come under BMC jurisdiction, mayor Sulochana Das said, “Efforts are on for better coordination with other departments to fix the problems.”