(Top) An overflowing drain and (above) garbage dumped by the roadside at Jhanjir Mangala Mishra Lane. Pictures by Badrika Nath Das

Cuttack, April 26: A large section of the population in Cuttack is deprived of basic civic amenities and the situation in Jhanjir Mangala Mishra Lane is only a part of the problem.

According to local residents, no concrete step is being taken to maintain sanitation in the area.

“Though there are adequate number of dustbins in the locality, no steps are being taken to remove the solid waste generated from the locality every day. As a result, one can find piles of garbage dumped along the road for days,” said Ravindra Jena (28), a local resident, adding that the situation gets worse when the garbage starts rotting and emanating stench.

Apart from sanitation, bad drainage system is also a problem for the residents of this area, which falls under ward no-25 of Cuttack Municipal Corporation (CMC).

“Most of the drains are narrow and are not able to discharge the waste water generated from the locality as they have not been cleaned since long. Moreover, the drains are overflowing and causing lot of inconvenience to us,” said Ambrish Das (52), another local resident.

The residents face a lot of problems due to acute waterlogging during monsoon. The people are apprehensive that this time also, they will have to face similar issues since the drains have not been cleaned yet.

“This has been the situation here for the past many years and no concrete step has been taken to repair and maintain the drains that have become obsolete,” Das added.

Local councillor Kedar Prusty could not be contacted despite several attempts. Civic officials said that adequate steps were being taken to maintain sanitation in the city.

“Besides maintaining sanitation, steps are also being taken towards mechanised sweeping that is expected to begin soon. With this, the problems in solid waste collection and disposal would be solved to a great extent,” said an official.

Moreover, the work for desilting has begun in a number of localities and all the surface and tertiary drains are being cleaned. The work for removal of silt in all major storm-water drains would also begin shortly, the official added.