Expansion work has left most roads damaged. Vehicles getting stuck in the mud have become a regular affair in Bhubaneswar. Picture by Ashwinee Pati

Bhubaneswar, April 20: Most of the roads in the capital, currently under expansion, have turned into death traps for drivers.

The public works department (PWD) claims to be working against time, but things become difficult for them whenever it starts raining suddenly.

Recently, Malay Sethi’s car got stuck near Housing Board Square as he took a turn towards Ram Mandir.

The tyre of his car had plunged into a sand-filled patch that had soaked in the rain overnight.

A fire brigade vehicle had to come to his rescue. Sethi would have been spared the ordeal had the roadside not been dug up by the PWD ‘carelessly’.

Like Sethi, many others have come to distress because of the alleged ‘carelessness’ of the department.

Sixty-year-old Sabyasachi Jana’s car got stuck almost in a similar manner in a patch of badly dug road near Ram Mandir. He could extricate his car from the mess only with the help of local residents.

“Sudden rainfall during the last few days made things all the more difficult,” said a PWD official.

According to police sources, bad and incomplete road works in the city has caused more than 20 minor accidents.

“The agencies carrying out the work must clearly mark the patches where work is in progress, so that accidents can be avoided,” said a police officer.

Residents complain that as some roads are being widened on both sides, the drains have also become choked, with rainwater flowing on the roads.

“Roads have become narrow as construction works are going on everywhere. Vehicles often fall into dug patches, especially after it has rained,” said Rabikant Bhuyna, a resident of Baramunda.

The PWD officials informed that they had ordered all the contractors to surround the dug patches with red and illuminating ribbons so that commuters can be warned about the roadside construction works.

“I had got some complaints about this problem. I have also instructed the contractors to tie red ribbons and fill the dug patches as soon as possible to avoid any mishap. Even after the instruction, if the concerned contractors do not follow the instructions, steps will be taken against them,” said Manoranajan Tripathy, executive engineer of division I of PWD.