Bhubaneswar: Natural drainage channels and peripheral drains of the city have fallen prey to erratic encroachment and illegal construction, triggering a fear of a drainage system failure among the residents here.

Several covered peripheral drains could be seen providing a perfect place for makeshift shops selling items such as fruits, vegetables, artifices and cloths. Illegal construction at various is making things worse.

Encroachment is rampant at places such as Jagamara Road, Acharya Vihar, along Janpath, Nayapalli, Rasulgarh, Samantarapur, IRC Village, Surya Nagar, VSS Nagar, Sampur, Siripur and Unit-VI. The encroachments make cleaning of the drains a difficult job for sanitation workers.

"The drains here often remain choked as they can not be cleaned because of encroachments. Wastewater overflows onto the roads and nearby houses," said Acharya Vihar resident Bhagbat Dash.

Peripheral drains and the sewer system take wastewater from households to the ten natural drainage channels. The natural drains cover about 103.43 square kilometres with a drainage length of about 37km. These natural drainage channels take the wastewater directly to Daya and Kuakhai.

"It is the duty of the civic body to ensure regular cleaning of the drains. Several slum settlements have also appeared beside the drainage channels, making desiltation all the more difficult. There should be a comprehensive effort to make the drains free from such encroachment," said social worker Alok Mohanty.

"We are inspecting the drains and removing the encroachment periodically. We have also formed a team, which will make rounds of the city and file a report on encroachment on the drains. Our enforcement officials will then conduct the eviction drives," said mayor Ananta Narayan Jena.