The Ajodhya Sarovar. Telegraph picture

Sambalpur, May 24: The Ayodhya Sarovar, an artificial lake, made to store water from the Mahanadi river, has been lying in neglect ever since it was built.

“The purpose of the anicut, built in 1966, was to store water so that the people of Sambalpur could avail of it for drinking and bathing purposes. But, it has now developed cracks due to lack of maintenance,” said Govind Narayan Agrwal, a senior citizen of Sambalpur.

“The other objective of the structure was to provide a recreational place to the people of Sambalpur. But, it is unfortunate that none of the objectives are being served,” he said.

“It has been lying in neglect since 1966. Of course, it had been in good shape till the Ring Road was built. However, after the construction, it started to suffer damages,” said Siva Prashad Nanda, a local resident. “The administration should also think of increasing the height of the anicut,” he said.

“After its construction, the irrigation department handed over the anicut to the Sambalpur Municipality. The department does not have enough funds for the maintenance and repair of the anicut,” said Nilakantha Das, superintending engineer of the irrigation department.

“However, on the Sambalpur collector’s instruction, we have undertaken repair work. The collector has sanctioned Rs 11 lakh from the peripheral development fund for the mechanical and the civil work of the anicut,” he said.

“The sluice gates were removed by unidentified persons. However, we have a proposal to install steel sluice this time. Earlier, there were wooden planks. We have removed weeds from the water,” said he.

“We are providing technical assistance to the administration. Though it is not our responsibility, we are doing this for people’s interest. We expect the work to be over before the Sital Sasthi festival,” Das said.

Subash Chandra Sethia, executive officer of the Sambalpur Municipality said: “I had been to the spot with the additional district magistrate and the sub-collector. The collector has instructed the irrigation department to repair the anicut before the festival.” Talking about the weeds in the Ayodhya Sarovar, he said: “The weeds will be removed, once the water from the Hirakud dam is released. However, the dam authority will release the water after instruction from the collector.”

In mid the 60s, the state government constructed an anicut to store water of the Mahanadi river at Sambalpur. When the anicut was built, late Ayodhyanath Koshla was the governor of Orissa. The authorities had decided to name the project after him and it was called Ayodhya Sarovar.