By D N Singh
Smart city or the concept of civic safety perhaps does not come under ‘Sabka sath, Sabka Vikash’ like a missing link.
Its manifestation in Bhubaneswar has many tales of tragedy when either a child or any other man or woman taking to the footpaths during the monsoon in particular.
Almost such incidents do occur every year exposing the dark underbelly of the civic czars in this smart city.
A small count reveal that in last six years 7 lives have been lost by falling into the road side drains either without the covers or in a few cases the poor construction quality led to sudden collapse of the caps.
The result is death, injuries of fatal nature and there is no count as how many stray animals have either died or sustained severe injuries.
Three days back a child, Jyoti Prakash, went drowned in an open ‘nullah’ and could never be traced.
Last year, there was a panic when a boy fell into a uncovered drain in Bhubaneswar’s Soubhagya Nagar and desperate attempts by the locals could hardly help the boy.
After each incident there is a wakeup call for the civic authorities and the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation has hardly time to address it for the next spell of rains.
Flooded roads, waterlogged low-lying areas, leading to artificial flood-like situation, following a few spells of intense rain have become a regular affair for the residents here. And open drains at several places in the capital city have proved to be a death trap for the residents, thanks to the lackadaisical attitude of the civic body.
Seven persons have died after falling into overflowing open drains in the city in the last six years.That passes on into the records only.
Not a single authority from the BMC or Works Department or the NHAI could be spotted after the death of the 15 year old Jyoti Prakash.
But, fresh cases of caving in of the covers of the drains passing through busy roads could be spotted. It is still fresh in the memory of people when a 9-year-old boy was swept away in an open drain near Syed Mumtaz Ali High School in Nayapalli area in 2015.
A youth drowned, in 2016, in an open drain in Sailashree Vihar area. During 2017 monsoon, two youths drowned in a drain in Patia-Chandrasekharpur area.
It is not about spotting such vulnerable locations or the budgetary allocations but what seems apparently missing is the seriousness towards the peoples’ plight.
