Bhubaneswar, June 24: Visitors to Sundarpada on the outskirts of the city might feel they have magically been transported to the sets of Kevin Kostner starrer Waterworld.

The sight of schoolchildren wading through knee-deep water, and tall buildings mirrored in a veritable pool of accumulated rainwater will greet anyone venturing into the area.

The flood-like situation near Sundarpada has brought to the fore the consequences of unplanned urban development.

Tapan Mohanty, a professional who has invested in a duplex near Sundarpada, said: “Before I bought the property, I did some research and found that the right side of the Sundarpada-Jatni road did not get inundated during monsoon. But now, I find that this area too has become waterlogged. I am worried about the future of my investment.”

Krushna Prasad Sethy, councillor of Sundarpada and Kapilaprasad, said that although the area fell in the housing zone of the comprehensive development plan of the Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA), many of the houses were built without the development authority’s approval.

“On the other hand, even after so many years, the BDA has made no attempts to take up infrastructure development of the area.”

Manoranjan Ray, a local businessman, said the left side of the Sundarpada-Jatni road was a flood zone as it was located near the banks of the Daya river.

“Surprisingly, the left side is not waterlogged. It’s the right side that has become inundated after the June shower. This proves that there is something terribly wrong with the drainage system and the authorities should take urgent measures to deal with this,” Ray said.

Ganeswar Das, a trader who lives in Sundarpada, said plots near the Sundarpada-Jatni road had not been affected by the waterlogging.

“It is the houses that have come up about 500-600 metres from the road that have been inundated. Here, schoolchildren are wading through the knee-deep water to reach higher ground.”

He said a natural drainage channel had been blocked by a house owner who had built his home’s boundary wall over it. “This is causing the waterlogging,” said Das.

Member, town and regional planning, BDA, Pitabas Sahoo said: “Most of the houses on either side of the Sundarpada-Jatni road were built with the approval of the panchayat bodies. BDA does not give permission for multi-storey structures on this stretch.”

All-India joint secretary of the Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Association of India D.S. Tripathy said: “The real estate developers should have provided minimum infrastructure to the people before selling the plots. The development authority should take steps to upgrade the basic infrastructure on the outskirts of the city.”

He alleged that in the past three years, the development authority had done nothing to develop infrastructure inside the city.

“This is perhaps one of the major reasons why people are now venturing into water-logging prone zones to build their houses, as the price of land inside the city is too high,” said Tripathy

Rain surprise

This year, June has seen a lot of rainfall.

Met officials said the timely arrival of monsoon was the reason behind significant rainfall in June this year.

“In the past, monsoon used to be late. This year it has arrived on time and there is continuity.

“Apart from this, two subsequent low-pressure zones formed that have on the Odisha coast have already caused a lot of rainfall and it is likely to continue for another week,” said regional Met centre director Sarat Chandra Sahu.