Drains pose danger for Dhenkanal

DHENKANAL: A recent eviction drive in Dhenkanal, which resulted in open drains and scattered debris, has made Sunday's Rath Yatra fraught with danger in the town.
More than 10,000 devotees are likely to attend the auspicious festival in Dhenkanal. To make the festival peaceful, the Dhenkanal municipality has demolished hundreds of shops which were blocking drains and the main road a week before the festival.Though the demolition work is over, the entire stretch from Balaram temple to Mausi Maa Mandir at Baji chowk is strewn with debris.
The drains were also left open after the civic body cleaned them, ahead of the festival. Heaps of sand and construction materials also block portions of the road. "As the drains are left open, it is an ordeal for me to enter my shop. I have made an ad hoc arrangement by placing stones and wooden planks over the drain," said Kshirod Kumar Hota, a local shop owner. It will distract customers during the festival, he said.
This year, roads are not safe for the devotees. It will be a challenging task to keep the crowd away from the open drains, said an official.
When contacted, municipality executive officer Subash Jena declined to comment on the matter.
On the other hand, six platoons of police have been deployed in the area. "Bazaar committees and voluntary organizations have been asked to make drinking water arrangements," said Vishwanath Acharya, sub-collector and endowment officer. He admitted the opened drains would be danger zones for the devotees. The administration will start renovation work soon after the festival, he said.
Dhenkanal has been celebrating the car festival at the Balaram temple for more than three centuries now. The Balaram temple was established by King Nrusinha Bhramarbar in 1685. Later, King Surya Pratap constructed a separate Jagannath temple in the campus.