Vehicles wade through sewage on NH-5 near CRP Square. Picture by Sanjib Mukherjee

Bhubaneswar, June 10: A pool of wastewater spilling from a nearby sewage line near N-1 area at CRP Square is creating nightmare on the National Highway 5 and its adjoining areas.

Commuters waiting for their buses near the busy intersection are finding it difficult to even stand in the nearby areas because of the stench emanating from the sewage.

The situation becomes worse between 8am and 11am as most people of the locality use the washrooms during that time.

Minerava Das, a daily commuter who waits for her bus near CRP Square, said: “We have to wait for our bus near the CRP Square at 9.15am everyday amid a very difficult situation caused by the overflowing sewage. The wastewater, which comes from a pit near the wall of a nearby plot of N-1 colony, forms a pool on NH-5.”

Biswaranjan Pati, a local businessman who goes to a school to drop his ward crossing the CRP Square every morning, said: “Thousands of commuters, who pass through the CRP Square everyday, have to face difficulty for the overflowing sewage. But the authorities have not done anything meaningful.”

The city is yet to have a dedicated sewage system and treatment plants under the Odisha Water Supply and Sewerage Board. At present, many areas of the city are covered under the traditional sewage system (without treatment plant) under the public health engineering organisation (PHEO). The section from where the sewage water overflows near CRP Square comes under the PHEO division-I.

PHEO executive engineer Manoj Ranjan Nanda said: “The wastewater is spilling from the nearby sewage line because of a diversion caused by the ongoing civil work at the CRP Square by the National Highways Authority of India.”

Local residents, however, said that the wastewater, which gets accumulated near the CRP Square, does not come from any diversion, but from a broken pit of the sewer line.

“The PHEO should immediately examine and repair the line,’’ said Kuna Patra, a businessman of Jayadev Vihar who takes the CRP Square-Jayadev Vihar road through Ekamrakanan to go to Unit-I market everyday.