BMC undertakes extensive work for clearing roads, drains

Bhubaneswar: After round the clock action for two days, successfully managing the natural calamity of torrential heavy rains caused by low pressure on the Bay of Bengal, Team BMC on Monday fanned out across the city, extensively working on cleaning of roads, drains and removing obstructions at several places.

All the 13 nodal officers with their respective teams including 40 engineers, entire sanitation workforce of the civic body comprising over 1050 baseline workers started the work from early morning covering the entire city through the day.

Leading from the front Mayor Ananta Narayan Jena visited vulnerable areas including Salia Sahi under Ward 26, overlooking the cleaning and garbage lifting work done by the officials along Drain No. 4. Clogged stormwater garbage from the drain near Dasarathi Apartment was cleared with help of excavators deployed by BMC.

Later in the day, Odia Language, Culture and Tourism Minister Ashok Chandra Panda along with Mayor Ananta Narayan Jena visited various locations in Ward 49 and Rajib Nagar area wherein identified choked points in the drains were cleaned.

Advising people to not dump garbage, plastic and construction waste into the drains, Mayor directed officials to remove all encroachments on the drains while asserting that illegal construction by some people on the drainage channel going towards Gangua causing constriction of drains which ultimately makes all the citizens suffer during heavy rains.

All those constructions will be demolished who have constructed beyond the revenue measurement, he added.

Another team led by Commissioner, BMC along with officials of BMC and BDA visited several low lying areas of the city and action has been initiated to remove encroachments and obstructions along the drains as well as natural drainage channels.

Cooked food has been provided in Ward 11 and Satya Kali Behera Sahi basti, adjacent to Satya Nagar Crematorium. Meanwhile, 15 complaints related to stormwater drainage issues received from citizens on the Bhubaneswar One Helpline number as well as the dedicated stormwater helpline of BMC were resolved expeditiously.

Early in the day Fire Services Department and BMC worked together with 14 pumps to dewater water logged points in several localities including Jayadurga Nagar, Nanda Vihar, Samantarapur, Paika Nagar near Delta square, Bhimtangi Lane 6, Chakeisihani, Nuagaon, Dumduma, Ward no10, Mallick complex, Sriram city etc. One cesspool, 2 JCB were also engaged in this activity.