Bhubaneswar, March 20: Residents of Unit-II have little to choose from during Assembly sessions - a blocked road and stretches dumped with silt.

Commuting has become a headache for the residents with the Mahatma Gandhi Marg remaining closed when the Assembly session is on. Instead, they are forced to take alternative routes that are virtual peril paths as silt lifted from the drains remains dumped on them.

The silt has eaten up a lot of space thus creating problem for the vehicles plying on these roads. Residents have also complained about dust flying in the air.

"After cleaning the drains, the workers have dumped silt on the roads. It is extremely dirty and also creates a huge problem for those who live here. It blocks our path and the dust increases pollution," said Swagat Rath, a resident.

Moreover, commuters, who use these roads inside the residential area to reach Sachivalaya Marg from Janpath, have also complained about the silt. They blame the authorities for not taking the step to clear the stretches for safe commuting.

"When the MG Marg is closed due to protest during the ongoing Assembly session, we are bound to take parallel roads inside Unit-II. However, with silt being dumped on the roads, commuting becomes extremely difficult," said Raghunath Mohanty, a government employee.

The residents said while the drain de-silting was the work of Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC), removing it was also its responsibility.

"We feel there is a lack of coordination between different wings of the same organisation for which we are suffering. Though the authorities are taking the help of technology to reach out to people, they are not trying to provide services at the ground level," said Anusuya Sai, a resident.

The corporation officials, on the other hand, said removal of silt was the responsibility of private contractors who carry out cleanliness work in the city.

"We will inform the private company. It is their responsibility. They have been assigned the task for similar cleaning of drains and removal of garbage from the road," said the corporation's public relations officer Srimanta Mishra.