Dibrugarh: The Anchalikatabadi Asom Gana Parishad (AAGP) on Saturday slammed the fiasco involving the Asian Development Bank-sponsored Dibrugarh town protection drain project after the construction company left the plan midway.

The Madrid-based company, Corsan Corviam Construction, was awarded the Rs 169.89-crore contract on February 20, 2014, under the Assam Urban Infrastructure Investment Programme.

Work on the 9.5km drain began on June 5, 2014, but the pace was so sluggish that less than 20 per cent of the work was done till the May 22, 2017, deadline. In November 2017, the construction company left the project midway after its parent organisation filed for bankruptcy protection. The state government has already initiated a process of rebidding for the multi-crore project.

"It is unfortunate that the government is taking the issue lightly. Dibrugarh is the hometown of chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal. People here face acute waterlogging every year. In 2015, the entire town was underwater for 10 days at a stretch. Lifeboats had to ply on the roads. One of Sonowal's election promises to the town was to make Dibrugarh free from waterlogging. However, the government is showing no seriousness to resolve the problem," AAGP president Sunil Rajkonwar told reporters here.

Waterlogging during monsoon is a perennial problem of the town. The town-protection drain, built in the early 1950s, has lost the capacity to flush out rainwater. Encroachment and lack of maintenance have hindered the functioning of storm water drain.

Rajkonwar alleged the water resource department was not doing enough to mitigate the problem of flood and erosion. "The department should work seriously. The funds that were allocated in the previous budget are not being used properly," he said.