Cuttack, May 29: The municipal corporation here is racing against time to complete the annual exercise of silt removal from drains across the city before the onset of monsoon.

The Indian Meteorological Department has announced that the southwest monsoon is expected to reach Kerala tomorrow and enter Odisha in the first week of June.

The civic body undertakes the exercise every year to maintain the outflow capacity of main drains and branch drains to prevent water-logging and inundation of homes by overflowing drains during heavy rains.

The outflow capacity of the drains in the city is reduced by nearly 50 per cent due to silt deposits and indiscriminate disposal of solid wastes.

The silt removal exercise to make the drains rain ready is expected to be taken up in April first week and completed by first week of May.

However, it is the end of May, but silt excavation work has been reportedly completed in about only 50 per cent of the drains. Municipal commissioner Bikash Mohapatra told The Telegraph: "We are doing our job. The annual operation of removal of silt from both branch drains and main drains is in progress. It will be completed before the start of monsoon."

The major exercise covers the entire drainage system in the city, which consists of two main drains stretching up to 25 km, a network of 40 km of branch drains and around 95 km of tertiary drains.

Sources in the civic body's engineering division said silt removal work had been covered in around 70 per cent of the branch and tertiary drains, but in the case of main drains only 30 per cent had been covered so far. The corporation spends about Rs 2-3 crore every year to remove silt from main and branch drains, and also renovate them.

Mayor Meenakshi Behera said: "Silt removal work from the drains is under way. The work in branch and tertiary drains is nearing completion while the work in the main drains is being speeded up."