In most of the areas of the district criss-crossed with rivers, the people generally depend on river embankment roads to communicate with the outer world from their villages. But in some of the river embankments, repair works are underway causing inconvenience to the commuters.
Take the instance of luna –Karandia island; here the locals depend on the luna river embankment to communicate with the outer world. More than 15,000 villagers of Sathilo, Sisua, Purusottampur, Kanibanka, Srutipur, Nankar, Baspur, Salara, Diha Jalapaka and Pakhat villagers mostly depend on the river embankment of luna for commuting. But as the river embankment strengthening work is going on, so people have to face a lot of difficulties to use the road. The earthen muddy road has gone from bad to worse, thanks to rains, alleged Amiya Jena, a local.
According to sources, the Mahanadi (North) Division Department has carried out the river embankment strengthening with an estimated cost of more than Rs 3 crore by inviting tender. The local MlA and MP have laid foundation stone for the project. But, given the snail’s pace of the project work, it is lying incomplete, though only 10 to 15 per cent of work has been made. But as the earth is not available, the contractor has stopped the repair work after the rainy season.
Consequently, the locals are facing a lot of problems for using the road, informed Mahanadi North Division Executive Engineer BK Samal.
Meanwhile, the villagers of these areas ply on the mud road due to lack of alternative. If a person falls sick or if a pregnant woman has to be shifted for delivery, then the family members and the relatives have to take the patient in bed by negotiating with the 2 km muddy road since no four wheeler or motorcycle can move on the road, informed Bharat Chandra Nayak, a local of Kanibanka.
Contacted, Mahanadi North Division Executive Engineer BK Samal stated that he was aware of the Baspur-Kanikanka road problem. He maintained that the contractor has filled sand on the mud road at least three times within a period of one month but unfortunately, due to the plying of tractors everyday on the road, the road is not in a motorable condition. Besides, rains have played spoilsports on the road, he added, assuring that the road construction work would commence after the rainy season was over.