Bhubaneswar faces traffic chaos due to road digging ahead of festive season

Bhubaneswar: Commuters in Bhubaneswar have to manoeuvre poor roads due to digging at many places in the city. And the trenching, carried out by various entities and individuals, continues despite strong warnings from municipal authorities and the works department.The lack of coordination among the entities involved has exacerbated the situation in the city resulting in severe traffic congestion during peak hours with the festive season approaching.The haphazard filling up of trenches has compounded the problem, leaving roads in a state of disrepair and causing additional discomfort to commuters. “This is not the smart city we want. The infrastructure, especially the roads, has gone from bad to worse in recent times. The road repair work is also not proper, causing immense difficulties to us,” said Akash Mohapatra, a resident of Niladri Vihar.The roads are generally dug up for water supply, electricity and sewerage works where authorities do so for laying their respective supply lines. “We have completed the work in many parts of the city and handed over the roads to the works department for restoration. Rest of the work will be taken up after the festivals,” said managing director, Water Corporation of Odisha, Debabrata Mohanty.Notably, in a recent review of the city’s infrastructure, the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation and the public works department issued simultaneous warnings to all those engaged in road trenching. The authorities emphasised the need for immediate road repair to ensure smooth traffic flow during the festive season. Also, the housing and urban development department directed municipalities to prioritise construction of pothole-free roads and covering of roadside drains with slabs.Despite these directives, unauthorised road digging has continued, with recent incidents on Infocity Road highlighting the scale of the problem. The situation became so chaotic that traffic personnel and volunteers were deployed to manage the congestion. “It was absolute chaos at Infocity Road recently. First, they dug giant pits right at Infocity Square, causing massive traffic jams during peak hours in the evening. They repeated the same near the Sai Temple recently. This is madness,” said Priyanka Behera, a software engineer working in the area.In response to the ongoing disruptions, mayor Sulochana Das reiterated the city’s stance against unauthorised road digging. “We are not going to tolerate this kind of irregularity. We have already asked them to stop, and they have assured us they will abide by the rules from now on,” she said.