Women wade through rainwater on an inundated road at Badambadi in Cuttack. Picture by Badrika Nath Das

Cuttack, July 20: Residents of Stewartpatna blocked a road to protest against the municipal corporation’s “indifferent attitude” to the frequent waterlogging situation in the area. Several parts of the area under the civic body have been facing similar problems.

“We were forced to demonstrate because our locality is always inundated whenever there is heavy rain,” said Mihir Swain, a local resident.

Cuttack, which had received 55.6mm rainfall yesterday, witnessed a heavy downpour this afternoon, too, leaving most localities inundated.

“The Cuttack Municipal Corporation (CMC) has failed miserably to complete the necessary ground work to desilt major drains and this is why there is an acute waterlogging this year,” said Seikh Rashid, a resident of Odia Bazaar.

CMC officials conceded that that waterlogging conditions in several localities were apparently caused because of lapses in pre-monsoon de-siltation operations. “We will instruct various agencies and contractors to carry out desiltation of major drains again,” said municipal commissioner Nihar Mohapatra.

Mohapatra said CMC engineers had been directed to operate motor pumps to facilitate the speedy discharge of waste water from the affected localities. The situation is expected to be normal by tonight.

The CMC spends around Rs 1.5 crore to desilt major storm water channels and drains ahead of the monsoon every year. Local residents allege that there were irregularities in carrying out the annual operation because of the lack of supervision by senior officials of the civic body.

Several localities including Odia Bazaar, Sutahat, Dewan Bazar, Rovers Street, Kali Gali, Chandni Chowk, Pithapur, Badambadi and Meria Bazaar were inundated following heavy rainfall today.

“Drain water entered our houses following the heavy rainfall around 1.30pm today,” said Sultana Khatun, a resident of Rovers Street. She said it had taken six hours for the rainwater on the streets to subside yesterday.