Construction of the drain on beside BDA City Centre and (right) The Telegraph report published on May 28, 2011. Picture by Ashwinee Pati

Bhubaneswar, Feb. 13: The Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) has started building a drain that had once been encroached by a prominent mall on Bidyut Marg.

The encroachment was in the form of a ramp that had blocked the flow of wastewater from ward No. 25 of the city.

On May 28 last year, The Telegraph had published a story on the BMC action against encroachment following water-logging problems in the area through which natural drainage channel No. 10 passes. The new drain will connect the area around Ereka Club with the drainage channel near Lake View apartment.

Local councillor Naba Kishore Behera said: “The encroachment on the drain by the mall was creating problems for the entire area and affecting the drainage of rainwater from the Kalinga Stadium area. Though the plan for the drain had been included in the ward’s budget, it could not be executed because of the encroachment.”

He said the civic authority had demolished the extended portion of the mall on May 27 last year, but the construction of the drain began about a month ago. Sources said the mall owners had not only blocked the space for the drain with the concrete ramp but even laid cement pipes underneath to remove wastewater from the building. A nearby furniture shop owner had built a toilet and connected the exit pipe to the mall’s pipe that passed underneath the concrete ramp.

Sibadutta Kar, a resident of the area, said: “The state government has already admitted that many malls are violating the regulations of the Orissa Development Authorities Act, 1982, but no one takes any action against them. This step by the civic authorities will help local residents during the rainy season.”

Another resident of nearby Shastri Nagar, Tushar Satapathy, said: “The former housing and urban development minister, Badrinarayan Patra, had announced on the floor of the Assembly that the illegally-built malls should be demolished, but surprisingly the Bhubaneswar Development Authority had given permission for the construction of huge malls in residential zones. Two major malls on Bidyut Marg are even using the footpath for parking two-wheelers.”

A senior BMC official said the BDA had also given permission to construct huge houses without adequate drainage systems.

The water resources department has begun the renovation of four drainage channels and five others will be taken up later. The BDA, too, will lend a helping hand by renovating drainage channel No. 10, which passes through ward No. 25.