Bhubaneswar, June 20: Around 27 km lengths of drains are open out of the 1,600 km length of drains in Bhubaneswar city and its periphery posing threat to human and stray animals.
Besides, the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) is yet to clean 77 km lengths of drains .
The recent incident of death of a 10-year-old boy after being swept away by the gushing waters in an open drain during heavy rains in the capital city on Tuesday has raised eyebrows of the Bhubaneswar denizens.
It is not the only incident. Open drains have claimed several lives in the city in the recent years. A five-year-old boy died after falling into drain at Patitapaban Nagar under ward no 58 during heavy rains in July 2022.
Similarly, a 15-year-old boy, Jyoti Prakash Behera, was swept away by storm water in an open drain at Shatabdi Nagar in September 2021.
In July 2019, a 65-year-old woman, T Appalama, had also died after drowning in an open drain on the flooded Ekamra Villa road.
Besides, Hari Patnaik, a resident of Pichupadia Slum in Unit-VI, had also fallen into an open drain while crossing it in August 2018.
