BMC to acquire land for drain near Bhagabat Sandhan

Bhubaneswar: The Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) will acquire private land in order to ensure smooth passage of a drain in Bhagabat Sandhan area.

Senior officials of city administration led by Municipal Commissioner Dr Krishan Kumar took stock of the situation in Ward No. 19 and directed the Drainage Division of BMC to prepare a detailed report on the drainage issue and submit a report within a week.

A drainage plan for Bhagabat Sandhan will be taken up with a new drain with a cost of Rs 2.30 crore by the civic body. At Bhagabat Sandhan the existing drain, which carries water up to Gangua, is squeezed at a point to 3 feet (nearly 100-150 metres away from Gangua), while the initial width is 15 to 20 feet.

The area, where the drain is squeezed, will be widened after the acquisition of land from the private owners. The Drainage Division of BMC was asked to prepare a detailed report on this process so that the proper disposal will be ensured up to Gangua nullah.

This will also help the nearby Sriram City, which also gets flooded due to the drain near Bhagabat Sandhan.

The new drain to ensure clearance of water from Bhagabat Sandhan area is part of the BMC’s plan to have seven more drains across the city with an investment of Rs 9.45 crore.

Local councillor of Ward No. 19 Jyotshna Rani Routrai said, “The drainage plan will help over 10,000 people staying in Bhagabat Sandhan, Sriram City, Malay Vihar and Basudev Nagar. This, once finished, will end a decade-old problem of the area. The civic authorities’ steps will end people’s woes as they suffer during each rainfall.”

Deepak Ranjan Sahu of Bhagabat Sandhan said, “We experience a river like situation during rains on the main road. I hope, after the execution of the drainage plan the situation will be normal.”

Archana Mishra of Sriram City thanked the civic authorities and especially the local councillor for the step to end the flood-like situation.

Sonali Das of Malay Vihar was happy to know about the drainage plan.

“We are extremely happy to know that the issues will end in near future,” he said.