The Odisha unit of Congress party on Friday staged a protest in Bhubaneswar mocking the State government for its alleged inability to address the acute water logging problem in several parts of the capital city caused by incessant rainfall.
In a unique protest, Congress members led by senior leader and Jatni MLA Suresh Routray placed a boat at the busy Master Canteen Square. Onboard the boat, the protestors shouted slogans against the government and demanded the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) to take immediate steps to drain out water from the inundated areas in the city.
Rout said several places in the city like NH- in front of ISKCON temple, Patia, Nayapalli, Rasulgarh, Bomikhal, Baragada, Laxmisagar and Old Town went under water due heavy downpour recently, severely affecting normal life of the city dwellers.
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“We have staged the protest to draw attention of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, Chief Secretary Suresh Mohapatra and BMC Commissioner Sanjay Singh towards the issues,” he said.
The Congress leader demanded immediate draining out of the rainwater from low-lying areas and clearing of roads and drains in the city. He also demanded the civic authorities to spray insecticides to control mosquito claiming that dengue was spreading tentacles in the city.
“We will launch massive protest and gherao the municipality unless the issues are resolved at the earliest,” the veteran leader warned.
According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), a low pressure formed over the northwest Bay of Bengal has become well marked today. Under its influence, widespread light to moderate rainfall with isolated heavy to very heavy rainfall with isolated extremely heavy rainfall is likely to occur during the next 24 hours in some districts of Odisha.