Construction of a drain hits traffic at Ranihaat Chhak and (below) construction materials dumped on the roadside. Pictures by Badrika Nath Das

Cuttack, May 31: Construction work of a major drain is creating problems for traffic at Ranihaat Chhak.

It is almost two weeks that the roads and buildings department began work on the renovation and construction of a concrete drain in the area. But, as bulk of the construction work is being carried out during the day, commuters are being affected.

Apart from this, various construction items, including sand and stone-chips, are also dumped by the roadside leading to obstruction in the movement of traffic.

“There is usually a heavy rush on the entire stretch of the road from College Square to Mangalabag via Ranihaat during peak hours. However, it has now become very difficult to travel on the road due to the ongoing construction work,” said Chitaranjan Behera, 55, a commuter.

Ranihaat is a major commercial centre and many important educational institutions and clinics are located here. The road also acts as a thoroughfare for hundreds of patients who come to S.C.B. Medical College and Hospital from outside the city.

“The Ranihaat Road is one of the busiest roads in the city that acts as connecting link between vital destinations such as, Ravenshaw University, S.C.B. Medical College and the railway station. But because of the lack of scope for expansion of the road, there have been problems in the smooth flow traffic here,” said Samim Khan, another commuter.

According to Khan, the civic authorities should initiate steps to ensure that all major construction works were done at night so that the commuters were not affected to a great extent during the day.

Traffic officials have also expressed their helplessness to control traffic at Ranihaat due to the ongoing construction work there. “Though we have deployed additional constables and effected one way traffic, it has failed to solve the traffic congestion owing to construction works at Ranihaat,” said an official.

Local councillor Laxmipriya Samantray also admitted that the construction work for the drain has led to utter traffic chaos in the area. “Following complaints by local residents, we have written to the executive engineer of roads and buildings to carry out all construction work during the night,” said Samantray.

Officials of roads and building have said things were likely to improve in a couple of days as work on the concrete drain at Ranihaat was almost complete. “Things are likely to improve in a couple of days as work here was almost complete,” said N.C. Das , sub-divisional officer of roads and buildings department.

Das said that work was likely to begin at Mangalabag and there would be no problem for traffic as the road there was relatively wider. “We will take steps to ensure that construction work is carried out during night at Nuapatna,” he added.