Bhubaneswar: The housing and urban development department has slammed the municipal corporation for not complying to the guidelines meant to avert urban flooding drafted by the National Disaster Management Authority of India.

The department has written to the municipal commissioner asking him to submit a compliance report on the action points mentioned by the disaster management authority to tackle urban flooding by the end of May or face action.

In a letter, department undersecretary Prashant Kumar Sethi said the Centre had been seeking information on compliance to tackle the urban flooding.

"You are requested to furnish the required information to this department failing, which the matter will be viewed seriously," it reads.

According to the guidelines, the civic body is responsible for all disaster-management efforts in the city area. It has to be ready to deal with urban flooding, especially in terms of early warning, preparedness, mitigation, rescue, relief and restoration. It is also required to prepare a city disaster management plan.

Sources said that the civic body, though making efforts to improve the drainage network of the city, especially in the low-lying areas, was yet to prepare any kind of city disaster management plan.

"We are preparing a drainage master plan for the city and constructing the drains accordingly," said a civic body official.

He said though there were no discussions on preparing city disaster management plan as yet, efforts would be made to avert urban flooding during the monsoon or in time of any natural disaster.

"We are working to strengthen drainage network and will also come up with a rescue plan. The report will be submitted on time," said the official. The city continues to witness flood-like situations during heavy rain. Various areas of the city, including Nayapalli and Acharya Vihar, witnessed such a situation on Monday when around 30mm rain lashed the city within 90 minutes.

"The city administration failed miserably to tackle the situation. In monsoon last year, Nayapalli, Acharya Vihar and Old Town areas witnessed severe waterlogging situation. The situation is the same this time. It is recurring because of the idle nature of the administration," said Acharya Vihar resident Bhagbat Dash.

Mayor Ananta Narayan Jena said they were aware of the problems and were taking steps to tackle the situation. "We are coordinating with the works department to tackle the flood-like situation in Nayapalli and Acharya Vihar areas. We are also strengthening the drainage channels. We will submit a report on our activities to the government on time," said Jena.