Kendrapara: The CESU Indupur section office has been functioning from a rundown building. Fani brought more trouble as a tree fell on the building’s asbestos roof and damaged it.
Now, CESU officials are running the Indupur section office from the damaged building exposed to the sun in the summer heat.
Official sources said the Indupur CESU section office has been functioning for around three decades from the asbestos roofed building near the Birupa College.
Due to lack of maintenance, the building became rundown with passage of time. The doors and windows of the office have got damaged, and it has become a haven for poisonous snakes. In the last few months half a dozen vipers were killed by CESU staffers in and outside this office.
Although the employees managed to operate the CESU section office with lots of difficulties, cyclonic storm Fani wreaked havoc on the building. As a tree fell on the asbestos roof a portion of it broke off and fell inside.
Meanwhile, two to three big holes have developed on the asbestos roof due to Fani, and it is difficult to run the office from the dilapidated building during the day without getting exposed to the summer heat and high humidity, said Prasant Kumar Behera, the Junior Engineer (JE) of CESU Indupur section office.
It is difficult to remain even an hour inside the office as the sun’s rays fall directly on those inside.
“We have been forced to work in this rundown building due to lack of alternatives. During thunderstorms we have to stand on the building’s veranda exposing ourselves to lightning. If there is rain we find it difficult to preserve documents as there is no safe place to keep them,” said JE Behera. All important documents are kept in the duty room.
Staffers who return after maintenance jobs are unable to rest inside the building due to space limitations. At night, the employees are afraid to remain in the building due to snakes, said Gyanendra Kumar Jena, an employee of the Indupur CESU section office.
“Although CESU had started constructing a building at the back of this rundown structure for office purposes, it has not been completed even after six to seven years. Meanwhile, shrubs have started growing in the half constructed office building,” said the staff of Indupur CESU section office.
Polythene sheets were used to cover the roof of the rundown office, but a recent thunderstorm damaged the sheets.
“I have spoken about the condition of the office with the Executive Engineer several times,” said JE Behera.
“I hope the government would sanction funds for repairing the office,” said Amarjeet Pattnaik, the Executive Engineer of CESU, Kendrapara.
A proposal was sent earlier to construct an office building for Indupur CESU section office. The building’s construction started, but the contractor left midway as he failed to get payment due to lack of funds.
“I have brought the matter to the attention of higher-ups to get funds for completing the building,” said EE Pattnaik.
The CESU section office at Indupur is not the only one functioning from a rundown building. The CESU section offices at Danpur, Pattamundai, Gogua and Patrapur are also functioning from rundown buildings.
“We had written to the CESU bosses to sanction funds for repairing the buildings. But as there were no funds the buildings could not be repaired,” EE Pattnaik said.
PNN/Agencies