Bhubaneswar, Sept. 25: Various Durga Puja committees here today met the civic authorities and urged them to complete road repair, lighting and sanitation works in the city on a war footing.

Members of various puja committees had gathered on the reserve ground near Jayadev Vihar Square here to discuss their problems with representatives of city police, Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation and other various government organisations.

Pratap Jena, vice-president of Gadhakan puja committee, alleged that though they had been complaining of poor roads in their area for the past three years, the authorities were yet to pay any attention.

“We do not have any proper road in our area. Poor lighting and improper sanitation are also major problems. We want the civic body to address these issues,” he said.

Mayor Ananta Narayan Jena, who was present in the meeting, said the civic body would work on a war footing to complete road repairs before Dussehra.

“We are trying to repair the roads around various puja pandals. We are also trying to ensure that water does not accumulate near the pandals. The problems of lighting and sanitation around the puja pandals will also be addressed,” said the mayor.

More than 170 puja pandals are expected to come up in Bhubaneswar and on its outskirts this year. While more than 100 puja committees have already applied for permissions, the rest are expected to shortly apply for the same.

“A single-window clearance system has been adopted to provide all the facilities to the puja committees, so that they do not have to run to different departments to obtain permission,” said Jagannath Pradhan, president of Saheed Nagar Puja Committee, who was presiding over the meeting.

Officials from Central Electricity Supply Utility (Cesu), general administration department, public works department, Public Health Engineering Organisation (PHEO) and fire brigade were also present in the meeting. The PHEO has promised to provide water to all the puja committees, while Cesu would provide electricity to the pandals at low cost. The officials also said there would not be any power-cut during Dussehra this year.

Police commissioner Sunil Roy said comprehensive security arrangements would be made to keep goons at bay during Dussehra. Besides, special arrangements would also be made for traffic management and crowd control.

“We want people to have a safe Dussehra. For this, we will take various measures, such as deploying police personnel at several places to control crowd and keeping a vigil so that petty criminals cannot play spoilsport,” said Roy.

Police officers said that the organisers of major puja pandals of the city had been advised to install closed-circuit television cameras to keep a track on people’s movement.

“It will help crowd control while keeping an eye on criminals. We will also deploy policemen in civil clothes to maintain law and order during the festival,” said the officer.

As many city streets are still undergoing repairs, various puja committees will also deploy volunteers to control crowd and manage vehicular diversions during the festive period. The puja committees have been entrusted with the responsibility to identify parking spaces that would not affect traffic.

“There will be many vehicular diversions on Nabami and Dashami as more people are expected to visit the pandals on these two days,” said the officer.