Bhubaneswar, Sept. 12: From bad roads to damaged drains — multiple problems are affecting residents of Palaspalli Colony.

Bad roads near the entrance to the colony and its surrounding areas pose problem for commuters, while a major drain, that has been left damaged for more than four months, has turned into a mosquito-breeding ground.

Pipeline work has taken a toll on the road below the Palaspalli-Bhimatangi flyover, maintained by the public works department.

The Public Health Engineering Organisation, which laid the pipeline, filled the damaged road with dug-up soil in February.

But, they have not properly levelled it. The road leads to areas such as Pokhariput, Gandamunda, Jagamara and Khandagiri.

“Commuters face problems while passing through the road as the potholes get bigger after rains. Many motorcyclists fall off their vehicle while commuting on the road. Streetlights on the stretch have also remained dysfunctional,” said president of Palaspalli Residents’ Welfare Association Sukanta Sahoo.

The Palaspalli-Pokhariput Road has now shrunk near its Palaspalli end because of a contractor scrapping half of its entire width with excavators to carry out road expansion.

“The road has become uneven because of soil digging and it has been lying in such condition for the past six months,” said Loknath Dash, a commuter.

On this, assistant engineer of the public works department Sisir Mishra said: “The contractor used an excavator to do the preliminary work for road expansion. But unfortunately, he died two days after the work started. Now, we have to decide on the contract’s fate. Besides, the pipeline work by the Public Health Engineering Organisation has badly affected our road near the flyover. We will repair it after rains.”

Another resident of Palaspalli, Srikant Kumar Mishra, said: “The main drain of the areas, constructed by the civic body, has been lying broken for more than four months. As water and silt are getting deposited on one side of the broken portion of the drain, it has become a breeding ground for mosquitoes.”

Civic officials remained tight-lipped about the condition of the road and the drain in the wake of the poll strictures imposed by the state election commissioner.

However, a senior engineer of the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation said many internal roads and drains were laid in Palaspalli this year.