A portion of a road dug up to facilitate repairs of a drain near Meria Bazaar in Cuttack has become accident-prone and is causing a lot of agony to commuters and local residents. A few days ago Anant Mohanty, a commuter travelling on a motorcycle with one of his friends, had a narrow escape when he almost fell into the drain. “We would have landed inside the drain. I couldn’t see properly because of poor street lighting,” said Mohanty. Local residents allege that Cuttack Municipal Corporation had not taken steps to ensure the safety of commuters while carrying out the repairs. “There have been two accidents in the past three days,” said Gaurishankar Parida, a local resident. Parida said the civic body should install stop boards or a safety barricade to ensure that commuters don’t fall into the drain at night. “The sidewall of the drain was damaged last month. The repairs are essential as there is a threat of inundation during heavy showers,” said Dinesh Agarwal, a commuter. Text: Vikash Sharma, Picture: Badrika Nath Das