Bhubaneswar, July 8: Residents of the low-lying areas of Acharya Vihar, sarcastically referred to as Jal Vihar, will be spared of waterlogging-related problems if the state government accepts a proposal of the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC).

The proposal, formulated by engineers of the water resource department, will include diversion of water from the natural drainage channel No. 4 that passes through the area. This proposal has been made in accordance with the comprehensive development plan (CDP) proposed by IIT Kharagpur for the Bhubaneswar Development Authority in 2010.

However, there will be a slight change in the new design from the one formulated by the IIT in the past. The need for diversion of the natural drainage channel was also mentioned in the old design, but the drain was planned to pass through areas closer to the residential plots accompanied by the existing road which passes behind the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam Kalyan Madap.

But as per the new plan, the road will be constructed where the housing plots end while the drain will be constructed on the site of the existing road up to Regional Science Centre.

In his report to the civic body, the executive engineer of drainage division, Cuttack, has said that the new alignment of the natural drainage channel No. 4 was drawn as per availability of government land. But as local residents have encroached upon several parts of the government land, the drainage plan can be implemented only when the encroachers are evicted from there.

Mayor Ananta Narayan Jena said local residents opposed the earlier plan as they thought by drainage channel close to their residential plots would create an unhygienic atmosphere and the matter was subsequently dragged to court. However, Jena hoped that the changed plan would be accepted by all.

Indicating that all problems related to waterlogging originated because of encroachment on the natural course of the channel where the 9.2 metre width of the drainage outlet was squeezed into a tertiary drain-like structure, the mayor said how a encroacher could get the drainage-type (nullah kisam) land registered in his name should also be probed.

“We were made a soft target by all. But, the land was fraudulently made in the name of a person whereas it should have remained free from personal ownership,’’ he added.