Bhubaneswar: The Water Resources Department has identified weak river embankments in 21 districts of Odisha.
According to Jyotirmay Rath, engineer-in-chief, Water Resources, a joint inspection of river embankments in the state was recently conducted by officials of Water Resources department and district officials. Portions of embankments found weak were identified in Puri, Keonjhar, Nayagarh, Kendrapara, Ganjam, Gajapati, Rayagada, Bhadrak, Boudh, Kandhamal, Jajpur, Dhenkanal, Angul, Cuttack, Jagatsinghpur, Mayurbhanj, Balasore, Sonepur, Kalahandi, Koraput and Malkangiri districts.
Of these districts, Puri alone has weak embankments at eight places.
Stating that the work is underway to reinforce these weak embankments with adequate sand bags as per guidelines prepared by the Water Resources Department in 2008, Rath said that the department and the district level officials have been asked to remain on high alert and closely monitor these weak embankments in case there is a high flood.
