The remaining portion of the illegal road across Gangua nullah that is yet to be demolished. Picture by Ashwinee Pati

Bhubaneswar, Nov. 18: Government authorities are showing a lack of will to demolish an illegal road built across the Gangua nullah.

Although, the water resources department had partially demolished the road illegally built by a real estate developer, there is no urgency to clear the portion that remains.

Members of the Gangua Bachao Andolan (GBA) alleged that the revenue department was unnecessarily delaying demolition of the structure, and they urged the higher authorities of the water resources department to bring out a status report on the illegal bridge and the accompanying road.

The water resources department had on November 2 started demolishing the illegal approach road to the bridge built over Gangua nullah near Nuagaon petrol pump.

The preliminary report of the water resources department had found deviations from the original design that had been submitted to it for approval.

Blocking the passage of water in Gangua could put low-lying pockets in Old Town and Samantarapur under flood threat. Though the course of the channel has been partially cleared by the water resources department, the portion of the structure that still remains poses a threat to the historic water body that used to be a moat of Sisupal Garh on the outskirts of Bhubaneswar.

Authorities of the water resources department said that the chief engineer of the drainage division had been asked to issue a notice to the builder concerned as to why permission should not be revoked as the structure had violated all norms of civil construction and drainage principles. But they admitted that the report submitted by the engineer did not elaborate on deviation from design.

The Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA) had informed the water resources department about the illegal structure across Gangua more than six months ago. Sources alleged that engineers had sat on the matter. It was only after the GBA threatened an agitation and reports appeared in the media that they took up the matter.

The commissioner-cum-secretary of the water resources department, Suresh Chandra Mohapatra, said they had no ownership rights over the land. He said water bodies are owned by the revenue department, and so the district administration should take immediate steps to remove the structure that remained.

Regarding the alleged delay in taking steps against the illegal structure, Mohapatra said: “Responsibility will be fixed and the engineers concerned who did not act immediately even after getting information from the development authority will be taken to task. We have already asked the chief engineer to initiate proceedings in this regard.”

Sources in the water resources department, however, said that earlier, while he was building the illegal structure, the builder had hidden his activities from public view by using large-sized barricades generally used at construction sites.

Members of the GBA, Surya Das and Sangram Paikray, said that being custodians of the water bodies, the authorities of the water resources department should have acted sternly and stopped the illegal construction.

“The state government should revoke the permission and issue a probe into the entire episode,’’ a GBA member said.

Bhubaneswar tehsildar Haresh Nayak said the remaining road across Gangua nullah would be removed in the near future and the district collector had already held discussions with the officials concerned in this regard.

Sources informed that an additional secretary-ranked official of the water resources department had issued the permission on December 7, 2006 to the real estate developer to start the construction. However, he had asked the developer to take permission from the executive engineer, drainage division, Bhubaneswar before starting work.

A senior revenue department official, on condition of anonymity, however, said that not only encroachment over the natural drainage channels, illegal construction on the riverbanks on the city outskirts was rampant. “Unless some exemplary action is taken by the state government, there won’t be any control over such illegal activity in Bhubaneswar,’’ he said.

Local MLA Ashok Kumar Panda urged the authorities to take immediate action if the report had already been filed by the engineers regarding violations. “We need urgent action to save Gangua,” he said.