The residents here have expressed concern over cleaning of water bodies ahead of the annual boat-sailing festival - Boita Bandana Utsav - to be celebrated on November 4.
Most of the tanks and ponds in the city are filled with sludge, weeds, sewage and algae. Several projects of the Jeypore Muncipality to clean heritage tanks and water bodies have remained non-starters so far, they alleged.
Biota Bandana is a major festival of the State. Thousands of people throng these water bodies to row miniature boats in celebration of the maritime tradition of the State.
` 45,000 has been released in the council meeting for the cleaning of weeds following the Boitabandan festival.
"While crores of rupees have been spent for renovation but the water bodies are in such a deplorable state that one won't feel like entering into them at all. The Jeypore Municipality has been announcing various programmes to revive and maintain the water bodies, but no step has been taken in that direction," said vice president Bharat Sangam Rajanikanta Nayak.
The residents alleged that several heritage water bodies in the city including Nilakantha Sagar, Gobardhan Pokhari, Khajuri Bandhi and others were filled with sludge and weed. Most of these tanks have not been cleaned for years while a major portion of these water bodies have been either encroached or turned into garbage dumping sites.
These unclean and polluted water bodies have also become breeding grounds of mosquitoes and sources of diseases like diarrhoea, malaria and jaundice.
Similarly, the condition of Jagarnath Sagar cannot be improved in the absence of a proper outlet and inlet passage for drainage. "But the Jeypore Muncipality has been doing superficial work ahead of any major festival and not thinking of its permanent revival," said secreatary PPAC Niranjan Panigrahi.
The historical city boasts of four small and big water bodies. They not only lend a distinct identity to the city, but also provide the much needed relief to residents during summer.
"The administration has plans of renovating these natural water bodies. While speaking to The Pioneer, district Collector Anupam Saha said, “As the water bodies are under the jurisdiction of minor irrigation of the Water Resources, we have asked them to make a detail project report for the renovation and construction.”