Bhubaneswar: Municipal corporations across Odisha have miserably failed in managing stormwater drainage and sewerage infrastructure, leading to frequent waterlogging and flooding, while the release of untreated sewage to water bodies has resulted in public health and environment hazards, according to the CAG report tabled in the Assembly, Friday, which blamed deficiencies in design and lack of planning by the civic bodies for the exchequer losing crores of rupees.
The ‘Performance Audit on Storm Water Drainage and Sewerage Management Systems in Municipal Corporations’, where the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India assessed the management of stormwater drains and sewerage systems across five municipal corporations between 2017- 18 and 2021-22, said, “Due to absence of regulatory framework for management of stormwater drainage, the state government and urban local bodies (ULBs) failed to comply with the National Disaster Management guidelines, resulting in waterlogging and urban flooding.”
This apart, rapid urbanisation has more impact on land use pattern of the cities, mostly on drains/nallahs. Municipal corporations did not prepare the master plan for stormwater drainage management in cities, leading to waterlogging and urban flooding, it said.
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The municipal corporations have failed to take appropriate measures to recharge groundwater despite depletion in groundwater level. Municipal corporations did not provide adequate safety to commuters by covering the drains with slabs.
Deficiencies in preparation of detailed project reports for sewerage projects led to avoidable expenditure of Rs3,045.44 crore. The Daya West irrigation canal was virtually converted to a sewage waste drain and the contaminated water was being supplied for irrigation of 835ha of agricultural land downstream.
“Water at intake well of River Kuakhai for supply to Bhubaneswar city was highly contaminated. The Biochemical Oxygen Demand, Total Coliform and Faecal Coliform were beyond the permissible limits,” it said.
“Out of 558.64 Million Litre per Day sewerage waste generated in these five municipal corporations, only 52.97 Million Litre per Day (9.48 per cent) had been collected by the existing sewerage systems, leaving the remaining 505.67 Million Litre per Day (90.52 per cent) uncollected and had been discharged to water bodies, causing water pollution,” it said.
Around 42.24 lakh people across Odisha were affected by acute diarrhoea, 4.63 lakh by typhoid, 0.12 lakh by hepatitis and 0.12 lakh by renal diseases during the FY2017-22, which were primarily caused due to water contamination, it found.
The auditor also found that due to non-achievement of service level benchmarks and non-preparation of annual accounts, ULBs did not get the Central assistance of Rs333.58 crore under 14th Finance Commission grant.
Non-completion of sewerage projects led to time and cost overrun of 12 years and Rs550.07 crore, respectively, for Bhubaneswar sewerage districts I, II and III, it said.
PNN