Bhubaneswar: Hundreds of residents affected by incessant rains and water-logging in city have frantically called the control room of Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) only to realise that the BMC is ill-equipped to tackle the crisis.
BMC officials, on the other hand, admit there is need for an upgraded control room which can involve various agencies to address the water-logging issues in a coordinated manner.
“The recent drainage management exercise has revealed that several agencies are involved in the drainage management to tackle multiple components. The control room will enable the flow of information to the agencies concerned at the right moment,” admitted a top BMC official.
The multi-agency control (MAC) room will have officials from Swachha Bhubaneswar Abhiyaan from BMC, Public Works Department, Public Health Engineering Organisation (PHEO), National Highways Authority of India, Commissionerate of Police and Fire Service. The MAC office will operate from the BMC premises soon.
Currently, the civic authorities are working on a monsoon management plan with its limited staff by constituting 12 sector-based teams and one central team at Bhubaneswar. On the basis of inputs received from all teams and actions taken by the Central Control Room, a standard operating procedure would be evolved for the city.
The control room, which has received 150 complaints in the past five days until Monday evening, claims to have addressed the grievances. In the first two days, it registered 28 complaints, 51 on the third day, 59 on the fourth and12 on the fifth.
“BMC has appointed an emergency officer to tackle the situations arising out of natural calamities in the city. The multi-agency control room, with the help of BMC’s control room, will work in sync to address people’s complaints,” said the officials.
Meanwhile, BMC commissioner Krishan Kumar has called for documentation and identification of vulnerable water-logging points in the city.
“Sector officials and drainage engineers have identified key points at Mancheswar railway road where rain water from drainage channel No.2 and 3 was obstructed by a defunct pipe system. Obstructions by a pipeline near Dhirikuti Basti have also been identified and steps initiated to resolve the matter,” said a BMC engineer.
Commissioner Kumar has directed concerned agencies and officials to ensure garbage clearance to provide a clean environment as various diseases follow continuous rains.
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