Bhubaneswar, June 12: The rain gods have kept their promise, but the drain ‘gods’ have not.

The engineering section of the civic body claims to have completed more than 50 per cent of the de-siltating work, but so far, residents of several localities such as Kharavela Nagar, Unit-V, Unit-VI, Unit-VII, Unit-VIII, Unit-IX, Old Town, Jayadev Vihar and Nayapalli, are yet to see the work done.

Chairman of the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation standing committee on public health Seikh Nizamuddin said: “The drain de-silting work is not progressing satisfactorily and at many places the recovered debris from the drain are being flowing back into the drain by the rain. There should be immediate action to collect the debris and take it to the dumping yard.”

Resident of Ganga Nagar Utkal Gourav Das said the drain de-silting work has become meaningless, as there is a lack of coordination between the many wings of the civic administration.

“Many drains being built by the works department have not been completed. They lie open on many stretches, while others managed by the BMC are full of silt due to misuse by local residents nearby. In many areas, drains are getting clogged because residents are dumping garbage into the drains,” he said.

“Local residents and even sweepers have to be told not to throw garbage into the drains. The civic authorities were planning to conduct an awareness drive in the past, but it did not materialise. It’s high time that they started it,” said Bijay Mishra, a resident of Saheed Nagar.

In Saheed Nagar, lack of de-silting has led to several waterlogged stretches on Maharshi College Road. In Old Town, though the de-silting work is complete in some areas, many patches are yet to be covered. City engineer T.B.K. Shroff said: “We have cleared silt from nearly 50 per cent of the drains. We are not taking up de-silting activities on the 10 natural drainage channels as they are managed by the water resources department. We are cleaning only the secondary and tertiary drains along the city roads.”

Shroff said the de-sliting work would be completed within a week. “We are also informing the solid waste management wing to carry the debris to dumping sites as soon as possible so that they do not create a problem again.”

The council of the municipal corporation has decided to spend Rs 1.1 crore on the drain de-silting work this year. Every day, an updated report on the de-silting activities is placed before the municipal commissioner.

The report filed yesterday claimed to have completed de-silting work on 25 roads out of 77 undertaken so far.

Till this evening (6pm) the state capital had received 16 mm of rainfall. However, with the low pressure formed over the Bay of Bengal, more rain is likely in the city within the next 48 hours. Low-lying areas are likely to face waterlogging. This will also adversely affect the de-silting work.