Garbage dumped on a roadside and a potholed street at CDA Colony in Cuttack. Pictures by Badrika Nath Das

Cuttack, July 15: Residents of sectors 6 and 7 of CDA Colony here have threatened to stop paying their taxes if immediate steps are not taken to improve civic amenities in their areas.

“No step has been taken to construct or repair the major roads of the locality ever since the colony was established by the Cuttack Development Authority in 1985,” said secretary of Markat Nagar Residential Committee Nishakar Das.

Most roads in the CDA Colony, which falls in ward No. 3 of the Cuttack Municipal Corporation (CMC), are dotted with potholes, causing severe inconvenience to local residents and other commuters.

On Friday, a delegation of the residential committee had also submitted a memorandum to the mayor requesting immediate repair of roads.

“Lack of coordination between the officials of the CDA, the CMC, and the public health department is to be blamed for the present mess that we are in,” said Das.

“We are facing numerous problems because of lack of proper roads, waterlogging, absence of street lighting and poor drinking water supply at the CDA Colony, which is now home to over 1.5 lakh people,” said Ramakant Mishra, a resident of Sector 7.

“We have submitted nearly 10 memoranda, besides staging protest in front of the CDA and CMC offices thrice in the last four years. But the civic authorities have always lent a deaf ear to our concerns,” said Gadadhar Sahu, another local resident.

Local councillor Hrusikesh Dehuri admitted that no development activities took place in CDA Colony in the past few years.

“The CMC could not initiate any measure for repair of roads and improvement of the underground drainage channels as the CDA is yet to provide funds for these,” said Dehuri.

Mayor Saumendra Ghose said there had been a delay in carrying out the development works in CDA Colony because of scarcity of funds. He, however, assured that steps would soon be taken to redress the grievances of the residents.

“The delegation of Markat Nagar Residential Committee has submitted a memorandum. We will soon initiate measures for repair of the street lights and roads in the locality,” Ghose said.

However, CDA officials were not available for comments despite several attempts.