Motorists brave through the waterlogged Nayapalli main road in Bhubaneswar. Picture by Sanjib Mukherjee

Bhubaneswar, Sept. 13: Mayor Ananta Narayan Jena, who takes the stretch between CBI Colony and Unit-VIII DAV School everyday, seems to be indifferent to the perennial waterlogging on it.

The road, which partly falls under Jena’s ward, gets flooded every now and then following a shower thanks to the clogged drains on both the sides.

The residents were seen wading through knee-deep water a few days ago when a low-pressure in the Bay of Bengal had triggered rain in several parts of the state, including the capital city.

“One shower and the road gets flooded. We have to face all kinds of problem because of this. Water remains accumulated even in front of our house. There have been occasions when we have to use pumps to drain out water,” said Manorama Biswal, a local resident. Manorama said over the last two years they had made repeated complaints regarding waterlogging on the road, but the authorities were yet to respond.

The road is the lifeline of the area with major schools at two ends of it apart from the offices of the CBI, the state pollution control board and the regional passport building along it. For the people coming to the city from Khurda and Nandankanan, this serves as the entry point to the city.

Commuters, especially schoolchildren, are the worst sufferers. “We have to avail this road daily and our uniform gets wet and soiled. The dirty pool of water formed near the CBI Colony turning cannot be crossed safely. The water takes long to recede,” said Subham, a student.

The residents said the lack of coordination between the mayor and councillor of the neighbouring ward Sanju Balawantray was responsible for frequent waterlogging of the stretch. The drain on one side of the road falls in Sanju’s ward. “No one seems to be bothered about the problem. Ask them and they try to shift the responsibility on each other,” said Niranjan Dehury, a shopkeeper. Sanju said the problem persisted in the low-lying parts of the road. “We have discussed the problem and work will begin soon on this stretch after the rains,” she said.

Jena said construction of a drainage channel to facilitate water discharge had begun two days ago. “All drains in the area will be connected to the main drainage channel within a month,” he said.