Accidents Come Riding On Sand-Filled Roads In Odisha Capital

Bhubaneswar: With most roads in the city covered with sand and garbage, accidents have become a regular affair turning them into veritable death traps, complained commuters.

The apathy of the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) in cleaning the roads has compounded the problem, they alleged.

Of the areas, Jagannath Nagar, Jharpada, Sahidnagar, Nayapalli, Chandrasekharpur, Jagamara and Tankpani Road are the worst affected.

Locals claimed that two-wheelers often skid off the roads due to the sand, leading to accidents and even fatalities in some cases. Besides, construction materials dumped on the roads are also a huge problem for the commuters.

“Not only sand, but bricks and other construction materials are also piled on the road connecting World Chhak to Nayapalli. I have slipped many times while using the road. But no one is bothered to address the problem,” said Priyam Mishra, a resident of Jayadev Vihar.

“I once shouted at the owner of a house over the construction materials dumped in front of his premises. But the owner informed me that he had taken BMC’s permission,” Mishra added.

Bikash Bag, a resident of GGP Colony at Rasulgarh, said overloaded trash bins and garbage on the roads with flies buzzing and cows feeding off them are a common sight in the city. “I blame the civic authorities for this mess as they give permission to people to pile their materials by the roadside,” Bag said.

On their part, sources in the BMC’s Health and Sanitation Department said they have outsourced the cleaning of roads by machines to private organisations that charge two packages for the job per km.

The first package covers the stretches from KIIT Chhak to Jaydev Vihar Chhak, CRP Chhak to Power House Chhak, Stewart School Chhak to Delta Chhak, Raj Bhavan Chhak to Gopbandhu Chhak, Gopbandhu Chhak to Siripur Chhak, Gopbandhu Nagar Chhak to Paiknagar Chhak, Delta Chhak to Fire Station Chhak, Raj Bhavan Chhak to Ganganagar Chhak, Delta Chhak to Ganganagar Chhak, Jaydev Bihar Chhak to Raj Bhavan Chhak, KIIT Chhak to Shikharchandi Chhak, Infocity Chhak to Shikharchandi Chhak, Khandagiri Chhak to Rasulgarh Chhak.

The swiping service centres charge Rs 548 per km under this package.

Similarly package 2 covers the stretches from State Museum Chhak to Garage Chhak, Acharya Vihar to Airport Chhak, Vani Vihar Chhak to Shishubhavan, New Airport Chhak to Golei Airport, Kalpana Chhak to Raj Bhavan, Ganganagar to Shishubhavan, Capital Hospital to Shishubhavan, State Museum to Mausi Maa Chhak, Rasulgarh to Kalpana Chhak, Kalpana Chhak to State Museum, LIC Chhak to Ganganagar Chhak, Patel Marg-Madhusudan Marg-Rabindra Mandap Chhak to 120 Battalion, Nicco Park Chhawk to Maharshi College Chhak.

In these areas, the cost is Rs 450 per km.

However, residents complained that the BMC focuses the cleaning services at the “safer areas”, but turns a blind eye to the most vulnerable parts.

When contacted, BMC Commissioner Prem Chandra Chaudhary said, “We have not received any complaint regarding this as yet. However, we will probe into the matter and will do the needful.”