Bhubaneswar: Chief minister Naveen Patnaik on Wednesday took up the waterlogging issue near the Iskcon Temple at Nayapalli, Jayadev Vihar Square, Rasulgarh, Palasuni and Pahala on the national highway-16 with the Centre.

He accused the National Highways Authority of India of not being serious about addressing the problem in Bhubaneswar.

In a letter to Union minister of road transport and highways Nitin Gadkari, Naveen said the service lane area of the NH-16 near the temple was getting inundated during rains sometimes up to 3 feet of water, resulting in disruption of traffic and damages to the parked vehicles. He said: "Occurrence of such ponding of rainwater for such long periods have been observed from the days of construction of the solid high embankment of the national highway without providing adequate discharge points and ventages."

He said: "The NHAI authorities have been intimated time and again about the concern. Construction of solid high embankments instead of viaducts aggravates the drainage issue by concentrating the rainwater into the valleys. Similar situation is also occurring near Jayadev Vihar Square, Rasulgarh, Palasuni and Pahala on the NH-16."

The NHAI authorities have been requested to construct a drain along the service lane from the Iskcon area to Vani Vihar from smooth discharge of the rainwater and provide similar provisions near Raulgarh, Palasuni and Pahala on the NH-16." But, the issues have not yet been addressed, he said. On July 3, the Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee poured water in the NHAI office at Nayapalli, protesting against its failure to address the issue. However, incidents of waterlogging on the national highway have sparked off a blame game between the government agencies. The civic body is blaming the NHAI and the works department for delaying the preparation of a master plan for construction of a parallel drain. The NHAI has blamed the works department and the civic body for the delay. The state government said the approach roads and parallel flyover from Rasulgarh to Baramunda were NHAI properties. "We can't take up any project without their approval," said a works department official.

The state government, however, plans to construct seven drains in the city for Rs 10 crore to sort out the waterlogging problem.