A large number of villagers have been spending sleepless nights in the riverside villages of Jajpur as the authority is yet to repair the embankments before the rainy season.
The specter of impending flood is haunting the riverside villagers due to non-repair of the river embankments in Balichandrapur, Chata, and Panchupandava areas under Badachana block and many villages in Bari block as in the past the breaches in these areas had created havoc.
In the devastated flood in 1982, Dudhia Ghai had collapsed like nine pins due to onslaught of the swirling flood waters. As a result, about 34villages had been marooned and thousands of houses had collapsed.
After the 1982 disaster, the Government had repaired and stone-packed the Dudhia Ghai but due to lack of proper maintenance, the river embankment in Dudhia is unsafe.Recently, many riverside villagers demanded before the authority to inspect the embankments to gather firsthand knowledge about their safety.
They alleged that the authority has been paying only lip service towards their problems as the sub-standard repair work has been going on for many years. A large number of stones were washed away in the rivers since long but the authority is not putting new stones at Dudhia and other areas. In pen and paper, the authority mentioned that six truck laden stones were used to repair the damaged portions of the Dudhia Ghai, but not a single stone was fixed, said Madan Mohan Das, a villager of Dudhia.
The river embankments at Uttarsasan, Bagula, Hajipur, Chandapur, Gousanagar and other riverside areas are also unsafe. After 2006 flood, the Government had decided to raise the height of the river embankments by about three feet to prevent the onslaught of the flood water but the authority had raised the height by a foot, alleged Sarbeswar Behera, a retired teacher of Bagula.
The rampant corruption and irregularities on the part of the irrigation department have been an impediment for the proper repair and construction of the river embankments in these areas.
Some venal contractors in a clear nexus with the engineers and the ruling party leaders are on a looting spree. A major chunk of money meant for the repair of the breach sites and river embankments in the district has been embezzled, said sources.