Bhubaneswar: With only days to go for monsoon to reach Odisha, Urban Development Minister Pratap Jena and Bhubaneswar-Central legislator Ananta Narayan Jena Tuesday conducted a field review of the drainage system in the city.
The review emphasised on waterlogging in areas close to National Highway -16 that are known to get inundated even with medium rainfall each year.
Both the leaders held talks with the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) to avoid waterlogging on the stretch between CRP square and Acharya Vihar.
“We have been witnessing waterlogging regularly on this stretch between CRP square to Acharya Vihar. The low lying areas near this road also get inundated during rainy reason. This is being caused owing to negligence on parts of NHAI that is not cleaning the drains regularly,” accused Minister Jena.
MLA Jena, on the other hand, appeared confident of better conditions this year owing to the new drains constructed by the state government recently.
“Last year, we had constructed a drain in front of the ISKCON temple. We have also removed the encroachment near Jaydev Vihar and a drain has been built to release excess water into main drainage canal. Further, another drain has been built in front of Mamata Dalei School to dispose off excess water into the main system,” said the MLA.