Bhubaneswar: With the India Meteorological Department (IMD) predicting normal rainfall this monsoon, the state government has asked all the urban local bodies (ULBs) to ensure covering of all drains and manholes by June 15.
The Housing and Urban Development (H&UD) secretary G Mathivathanan Wednesday wrote to all municipal commissioners and executive officers in this regard.
In his letter, Mathivathanan mentioned that due to heavy rainfall during monsoon, the roads and drains get flooded resulting in many mishaps.
Keeping this in view, the secretary instructed the officials to undertake an inspection of all drains under their jurisdiction.
“Identify the location where the drain-cover has been damaged and take immediate steps to repair it,” Mathivathanan said in his letter.
If it is not possible to repair the same soon, the officials are asked to put signboards to caution people so that accidents could be avoided.
The secretary also asked the officials to evict encroachers from drains and take legal action against the defaulting persons and institutions.
Besides, he instructed to identify low-lying and water-logging areas, and take precautionary measures to facilitate smooth flow of rainwater.
IMD predicts return of heatwave conditions
Heatwave conditions are set to return to the state with India Meteorological Department (IMD) predicting a rise in temperature in the coming few days even as rain and thunderstorm Wednesday evening in the capital city brought relief to the denizens. “The mercury will rise gradually in many parts of the state in the coming days. It will touch 43 or 44 degrees Celsius mark by May 21/22,” said director of Bhubaneswar Met Centre Sarat Sahu here Wednesday. However, he said thunderstorms accompanied by gusty wind will also continue to occur in a few places. The highest 41.2 degrees was recorded at Sonepur, while Bolangir and Bhawanipatna each recorded 41 degrees. Malkangiri recorded 40.4 degrees while Titlagarh and Jharsuguda posted 40 degrees each, the Met office said. As per the IMD forecast, thundersqualls are likely to occur at one or two places in Keonjhar, Mayurbhanj, Balasore, Bhadrak, Jajpur, Malkanagiri, Koraput, Rayagada, Gajapati, Kandhamal, Ganjam, Kendrapara, Jharsuguda, Dhenkanal, Cuttack, Khurda, Nayagarh, Puri and Angul districts during the next 24 hours.