Bad condition of roads in the city has emerged as a major concern for citizens and Puja committees ahead of Durga Puja next month.

The condition of roads has worsened in the wake of the ongoing underground cabling works.

With the Durga Puja to be celebrated at 161 pandals in and around the city, citizens have demanded immediate repair of the roads.

While a number of pandals are located besides the main roads of the city, most of the roads remain jam-packed by pandal hoppers during the Puja. “The entire stretch of Janpath connecting Vani Vihar and Sishu Bhavan Square is in a mess because of the underground cabling works. Traffic chaos has become a regular affair with roads being narrowed in view of the work. If the roads are nor repaired before the Puja, traffic will come to a standstill,” said Akash Behera, a commuter.

The Central Electricity Supply Utility (Cesu) of Odisha and Odisha Power Transmission Corporation Limited has hired L&T to execute the underground cable-laying work in the city and claimed that the work would be completed by the end of September. However, the cabling work is progressing at a snail’s pace.

Not only Janpath, but also various other roads at Nayapalli, Rasulgarh and Chandrasekahrpur need repair to ensure free flow of traffic. “Durga Puja has become a major attraction in the city for the past few years and lakhs of devotees throng the pandals during the festival. The bad condition of roads will surely affect the Puja traffic. We have also raised the issue during a preparatory meeting with police and other concerned government agencies,” said secretary of Old Station Bazaar Puja Committee Deepak Jena.

The police said they would deploy adequate traffic personnel near the Puja pandals and traffic intersections in the city. “We have also asked the Puja committees to rope in adequate volunteers for crowd control and traffic management,” said a police officer.

Mayor Ananta Narayan Jena said the civic body would shortly convene a meeting with the concerned agencies to repair the roads at the earliest possible. “We will also repair the roads under control of the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation for a hassle-free Puja,” said Jena.