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Regular-article-logo Friday, 08 August 2025

Road across nullah demolished

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Bibhuti Barik Published 04.07.15, 12:00 AM

Bhubaneswar, July 3: The development authority, general administration department, drainage division and police today started demolishing an illegal road built across the Gangua rivulet, opposite the Nuagaon petrol pump.

A real-estate developer has built the road across the rivulet by engaging labourers at night, said a local villager. At that time, neither the local residents nor the water resources department reacted to it. And now, a vast area of nearby Gangotrinagar has been exposed to flood threat as the road blocks free flow of water in the channel.

The natural drainage channels in the city, too, empty themselves in the Gangua nullah.

Earlier, the same builder had built another road here that was demolished in 2011. On November 3, 2011, The Telegraph had published a report "Demolition wheels roll over road" highlighting this issue. This time he has built it using hume pipes.

Bhubaneswar Development Authority enforcement officer Pramod Kumar Patro said: "The drainage division made a requisition for demolition of the road on May 28 as the real-estate developer had built it again exposing the nearby areas to flood threat. We tried to demolish the entire structure today, but due to sudden rain, two excavators could not function properly. We have asked the drainage division to provide two excavators with caterpillar wheels, so that work can be finished quickly."

The authority would lodge a case against the builder tomorrow.

Vice-president of the Gangotri Nagar Development Committee Bansidhar Biswal said: "Though earlier the road had been demolished, he again built it, blocking the flow of the natural channel. It is a serious offence. Three years ago, during the flood in the Mahanadi river, three roads in our colony had gone under water, and I had to literally swim to collect commodities outside. The entire area had remained cut-off from the main city for three to four days."

"The real-estate developer had no permission from the water resources department to execute any work over the rivulet, so the entire work is illegal," said Sishupalgarh resident Rabindra Kumar Patra.

Gangua Bachao Andolan convener Sangram Paikray said: "The state government must take exemplary action against the violator as the person had built the structure engaging people at night. The civic authorities should also come forward as under the Odisha Municipal Corporation Act, 2003, the commissioner can demolish such structure without any prior notice as it obstructs the flow of water."

Assistant engineer of the Bhubaneswar drainage division S.K. Meher, who was present at the site during the demolition drive, said: "The water resources department hasn't given any permission to the person concerned. He has done it illegally."

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