SAMBALPUR: The first rain of monsoon on Monday provided some relief from the sweltering heat. It also exposed the shortcomings of the Sambalpur Municipal Corporation (SMC) and its capability to prevent water-logging in the city.
Around 53.61 mm of rainfall was recorded in the city between Monday evening and late afternoon on Tuesday. As soon as the rains subsided, several low lying areas of the city were water-logged despite pre-monsoon efforts undertaken by the civic body.
Water-logging is a regular affair in localities like Angoliapara, Housing Board Colony, Charbati and Cheruapada. However, this time, localities like Jagannath colony, Danipali, Bhima Bhoi Nagar and Christian Pada too faced the issue owing to haphazard construction of road and drains.
While construction of a road near Danipali has been going on for the last two years, laying of a pipeline for sewerage and AMRUT project has affected nearby areas. Usually, excess water after rains gets discharged through Dhobijor and Tangnapali drains. But, as the Dhobijor drain is closed due to maintenance, Tangnapali alone is not enough to release the water to Mahanadi river.
The other major drains in the city have been choked due to silt which had accumulated during a desiltation drive conducted by the SMC.
Deputy Commissioner in-charge of SMC Subhankar Mohanty said the situation is not as serious as projected. He said steps have already been taken to address such issues after assessing the post-rainfall scenario. “We have identified 25 vulnerable points across the city and measures are being initiated to prevent flood-like situations,” Mohanty said.
He said the city has been divided into 11 sectors and sector officers have been assigned the task to look after sanitation issues and monitor the localities under them. Accordingly, the sanitation staffs have been sensitised.