Spot the drain: Unplanned vegetation chokes the drain of Pokhran village. Telegraph picture

Bhubaneswar, March 19: Poor drainage system continues to create trouble for residents of Pokhran Village, a colony in Chandrasekharpur, as the area gets waterlogged even after a drizzle.

Runoff water from the nearby Rail Vihar and the processing plant of the Odisha State Cooperative Milk Producers’ Federation Limited (Omfed) has worsened the problem in the area.

The problem was acute during cyclone Phailin in October last year, when the water outlet from the BDA Park near the village damaged the boundary wall of a nearby plot. In 2012, heavy rainfall had also caused extensive damage to several houses in the area.

Local resident Kshetra Mohan Nanda said: “I came to the colony in 1993 when most of the plots here were vacant. There was also no problem in drainage of water. But, the passage for the drain water was blocked at several points after houses came up, especially after construction of the park, here.”

Mihir Ranjan Rath, another resident, said that the Bhubaneswar Development Authority officials were apprised of the problem earlier. The development authorities had also assured the residents of construction of a concrete drain by the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation. However, nothing has happened so far.

On March 10, a delegation of the local residents led by Binodini Sarangi, attended the first joint grievance hearing session of the municipal corporation and the development authority. The authorities assured the residents of quick redress of their problems.

The residents alleged that wastewater from the milk processing plant of Omfed and rainwater from Rail Vihar and Mancheswar areas pass through the narrow channel through the Pokhran Village. The channel later connects to the natural drainage channel No. 1 near Patia.

“Drain water flows on to roads every now and then and the houses opposite the BDA Park get affected the most,” said Nanda. Santosh Kumar Sahoo, another resident, said the area adjoining the colony was going to have several housing and shopping complexes in the near future. Hence, the development authority should ensure a better drainage system in the area in collaboration with the civic body, he said.

Debadutta Patnaik, an engineer who lives in the area, said: “The junior engineering staff of both the municipal corporation and the development authority have visited the site.’’

Additional commissioner of Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation Krushna Prasad Pati told The Telegraph: “We are yet to get the joint verification report. Once we get it, we can take a decision on providing a better passage to rainwater through the colony. We have already initiated the process for construction of a new approach road.”

Bhubaneswar Development Authority’s planning member Pitabas Sahoo said the executive engineer concerned had been asked to look into the matter.

“Once the elections are over, the work will be taken up in co-ordination with the municipal corporation,” he said.

In a letter to the residents of Pokhran Village on February 14 , the Bhubaneswar Development Authority, however, clarified that the recurrent waterlogging in the area was not because of the park which had been constructed on the land of the state forest department.