Kafla Bazar residents clean a choked drain on Wednesday. Picture by Badrika Nath Das

Cuttack, Nov. 13: Residents of Kafla Bazar today staged a roadblock to protest against lack of measures by the civic authority to maintain sanitation.

They alleged that the Cuttack Municipal Corporation did not taken any step to de-silt the drains of the locality, which resulted in overflowing of sewage everywhere throughout the year.

The blockade on Kafla Bazar Road lasted for more than two hours. Later, the residents took up the job of cleaning the choked drains of the locality by themselves.

“Wastewater has been flowing on the main road here for more than six months. We are forced to wade through sewage every day,” said Jafar Ali Bux, 32, a resident of Kafla Bazar.

Bux said the corporation officials had turned a blind eye to the problems of the Kafla Bazar residents, which falls under ward Nos. 7 and 8.

“Though a motor pump was installed here to remove wastewater from the area recently, the area still remains waterlogged,” said Milan Patnaik, another local resident.

Wastewater from Kalfa Bazar, Mansinghpatna, Sidheswar Sahi and Ramgarh is discharged through a main drain, which is connected to a sub-drain near Chandi Mandir Square. But, lack of co-ordination between BJD councillors ward Nos. 7, 8 and 9 has resulted in the drainage problem in these areas.

“The locality comes under ward No. 7. I have nothing to say on the problem,” said councillor of ward No. 9 Khirod Behera. Councilor of ward No. 7 Sumitra Sahu, however, said though there were few voters in the locality, the ward was covered mostly under ward No. 9.