Bhubaneswar, Jan. 20: Councillors of the municipal corporation have questioned the construction of footpaths over drains in various parts of the city with no gaps left for the cleaning and de-silting job.

The construction has been going on along roads such as on Janpath, the stretch between Sishu Bhavan Square and Vani Vihar, where eviction drives were carried out recently. Broken and unfinished parts of footpaths are also being repaired.

Besides, the gaps left in the footpaths earlier for cleaning drains have also been blocked. Residents are now a worried lot as they think that this may lead to choking of drains.

'Following choking of drains at many places, people complained to us. But, we found it hard to clean the drains as they have been covered with cement slabs and plastered,' said councillor R.C. Pradhan.

The councillors feel that continuous footpath is quite helpful for the safety of pedestrians, but aspects such as cleaning drains should also be considered.

They even pointed out that the spaces left at certain ends of the footpath earlier had been plastered.

Several councillors complained that the residents were critical of the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation for poor co-ordination with other government agencies.

They said the situation might not be that bad for next few months, but once rains set in, the drains would choke and roads would be flooded. There had been several incidents of rainwater flooding into houses due to choked drains in the city.

'The continuous footpath is a good thing. But, we want the civic body to take up the drain cleaning issue and talk to other departments concerned for construction of these footpaths over drains, so that there will not be any problem in the future,' said Mamata Sahoo, another councillor.

A civic body official said they had come across several such complaints from the councillors and residents. They apprehend waterlogging, he said.

They also assured the complainants of talking to the roads and buildings officials to look into the matter and make arrangements to avoid any civic problems in the future.

'Several councillors have raised questions about building continuous footpath over the drains with no opening for the cleaning and de-silting activities. As the roads and building officials have been undertaking the work and they are technically equipped in such matters, they must have made proper arrangements. If some problem persists, we will talk to them,' said deputy secretary of the corporation Subhransu Mishra.

Jaladhar Pradhan, executive engineer, division-I, of the roads and buildings, said there was plan for continuous footpath along side Janpath, but what had been done now was a temporary thing.

Besides, he said, there would be ample arrangement for issues such as drain cleaning and de-silting.

'The continuous footpath along both sides of the road will be constructed later, for which we will rope in private parties. Besides there will be adequate arrangement for other aspects as an integrated plan will be made taking other agencies such as the civic body, Bhubaneswar Development Authority, general administration and the drainage division into consideration,' said Pradhan.