DRAINAGE channel NO. 4: Of the 9.77km stretch, only 0.76km of the drainage channel on the Utkal University campus (Vani Vihar) is undergoing renovation.

DRAINAGE channel NO. 3: The drainage channel near Sainik School has a polluted bed.

DRAINAGE channel NO. 7: Drainage channel near Kotiteertheswar Lane will don a new look after renovation is complete. Telegraph pictures

Bhubaneswar, Nov. 17: Encroachment along the capital’s natural sewerage system may soon be a thing of the past and the 10 natural drainage channels may see better days.

The Odisha government has decided to remove encroachments from the 10 natural drainage channels in the city to facilitate smooth flow of storm water. The government will also create a special fund for the housing and urban development department to help acquire land for renovating the drainage channels.

Presiding over a review meeting, chief secretary Bijay Kumar Patnaik yesterday asked various agencies managing the drainage channels to start evicting encroachers within a week and finish the land acquisition process as soon as possible.

The ownership of the drainage channels also cropped up in the meeting and it was decided that after the ongoing renovation work, the drains would be handed over to the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC).

Renovation of drainage channels No. 1,2,3 and 4 has already begun with the help of funds from the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission. While the drainage division, Cuttack will renovate the first four channels, Bhubaneswar Drainage Division will take up work on channels No. 5,6,7 and 8. The Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA) will renovate channel No. 10, but no decision has been taken on which agency will renovate channel No. 9. Encroachment on the natural drainage channels has led to waterlogging and flood-like situations. The low-lying areas of Acharya Vihar, especially, which falls along channel No. 4, has been in the news for this reason. Though rapidly changing climate conditions have also led to heavy, localised rain and conditions similar to cloudbursts which have contributed to the floods, the civic body has been in a soup over two such flooding incidents this year.

Municipal commissioner Vishal Kumar Dev said: “The drainage division today gave us a list of encroachments and we will start work from tomorrow. However, as per the order of Orissa High Court, land that is under the jurisdiction of the general administration department, the BDA and the BMC will be dealt with by the organisation concerned. Accordingly, the Orissa Prevention of Land Encroachment Act, Orissa Development Authority Act and Orissa Municipal Corporation Act will be used separately as per the situation during the eviction process.”

Agencies such as the state national highway division, the public works department and the BMC will be asked to include drains along all the roads undertaken in the renovation plan. In the twin cities of Cuttack and Bhubaneswar, all roads and drains will subsequently be covered for better maintenance under the government’s initiative to renovate the natural drainage channels.

BMC sources said enforcement officials have already requested the Cuttack-Bhubaneswar police to accompany the eviction team. “Before the winter session of the Assembly begins, we hope to have completed an impressive amount of work, making the natural drainage channels free from encroachment. Encroachments have led to severe law and order problems as a result of floods,’’ said a senior BMC official.

Not only the natural drainage channels, Gangua nullah, which takes the load of nine out of the 10 channels carrying storm water and other pollutants, is under severe threat from encroachment. As the city is yet to have a sewerage system, Gangua is at present a “living sewerage line” for the city.