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Puri, June 16: Doubts are being raised over the smooth conduct of the Rath Yatra as drainage and sanitation works are yet to gather pace though merely 18 days are left for the annual festival even as the southwest monsoon is knocking on the doors of Orissa.
As many as 148 special trains will run for this year’s Rath Yatra, East Coast Railway officials said at the third Rath Yatra coordination committee meeting chaired by panchayati raj and law minister Arun Sahoo here Thursday.
Ruckus prevailed at the meeting at Gopabandhu Ayurveda College, which was also attended by health minister Atanu Sabyasachi Nayak, food supplies and consumer welfare minister Sanjay Das Burma, urban development minister Puspendra Singh Deo, transport minister Ramesh Chandra Majhi, Puri collector Arabind Agarwal, MLA Maheswar Mohanty, superintendent of police Sarthak Sarangi and Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) chief Suresh Mohapatra.
Some servitors alleged that Singh Deo had directed the drainage department and municipality officials to conduct a probe and report to him about the status of drains in the city but this was not done. Only 42 out of 68 drains have been desilted so far while, they said and alleged that the main drains of the town were not desilted.
The drainage department has handed over 58 drains to the municipality after constructing them. The status of these drains is unknown. The minister thus asked the officials concerned May 18 to conduct a probe and report accordingly. Officials of the civic body, however, assured participants at the meeting that desilting work of all the drains will be completed within a week.
Servitor Ramachandra Das Mohapatra said at the meeting that if the work is done in haste it will not yield good results. “Quality will suffer,” he said.
“Steps will be taken to desilt the drains at regular intervals during the rains and not only during the Rath Yatra,” said revenue divisional commissioner (RDC), central, Akhil Bihari Ota. He asked the authorities of the civic body to submit a report regarding completion of desilting work to the collector within seven days.
Ota also said that a standard operating procedure (SOP) will be prepared for Rath Yatra-related work. There would be efforts to begin desilting work in February and complete it by May every year, he said. Officials concerned would remain accountable for any kind of drainage-related problems that occur during Rath Yatra, he said the RDC.
Singh Deo also directed officials to meet the deadline in completing drainage work. He, however, expressed dissatisfaction over non-submission of utilisation certificate for work of `105 crore undertaken by the municipality. He said this is the reason the municipality is not getting aid.
Servitor Rajat Pratihari said the proposed 30 ft wide road surrounding Srimandir has remained a distant dream. The work on the road is going on for the last one year, he said, adding that the road is not only unfit for vehicles but also for pedestrians.
Servitors also alleged that there was no crackdown on vendors selling adulterated food on Badadanda, near Srimandir and on the beach. Servitor Damodar Mahasuar said raids on eateries on pavements will not help. There are some big hotels in the town that are selling stale food after keeping it in the freezer for months together, he alleged. No action has been initiated against them, he said. However, hotel owners’ association president Ramakrushna Das Mohapatra objected to the allegation.
CDMO Jagatkrushna Samantray said raids are being conducted at regular intervals and 11 cases have been registered, while 380 kg stale food has been destroyed.
“A health team accompanied by the food safety commissioner will raid the hotels and restaurants within a couple of days,” the health minister said.
The meeting also discussed the opening up of 62 first-aid centres and deployment of 48 ambulances for Rath Yatra.
East Coast Railway officials said 148 special trains will run for the Rath Yatra, while National Highways Authority of India official Sanjay Chana said repair of Samajajpur railway overbridge will be completed by June 30.