HC orders survey on Cuttack road works amid doubts over CMC's progress claims

Cuttack: Orissa high court has ordered the Advocates' Committee to conduct a survey of roads in all parts of Cuttack city to ascertain the veracity of the claims the Cuttack Municipal Corporation (CMC) made on Thursday regarding the progress of repair and reconstruction work. ‘

Initially, CMC commissioner Anam Charan Patra on October 3 assured that road works in all 59 wards would be completed as far as possible before Durga Puja. But on October 30, Patra sought an extension of time until the end of November to complete the work. Expressing displeasure over the delay, the special bench for PILs on civic issues in Cuttack city gave a warning that day and stated, "If the work is not completed by the end of November 2024, this court would be constrained to take serious note thereof and to initiate follow-up action."

When the matter was taken up on Thursday, CMC's city engineer Atanu Kumar Samanta filed a compliance report that said that steps have already been taken to repair and reconstruct the roads. A detailed chart furnished along with the compliance report indicated details of the present status of the road works with ward numbers.

"Out of 105 road and drain works, 64 have been completed. Similarly, six roads belong to R&B Division-I, Cuttack and 35 works come under the category like work under progress," the report said.

Apparently not convinced with the accuracy of the claims made in the report, the division bench of Justice Sangam Kumar Sahoo and Justice V Narasingh ordered a ground reality check by the Advocates' Committee before the matter is taken up next on January 9, 2025.

The president of Orissa High Court Bar Association, Bijay Dash, who heads the Advocates' Committee, assured the court ‘to obtain a response from the Advocates of the wards concerned and submit a reply indicating therein as to whether the status report furnished by the CMC city engineer is correct or not'.

Earlier, the bench, after doubting that the correct state of affairs were not reflected in the status report on road works given to the court, warned on October 3, "It is a very sorry state of affairs that the CMC authorities are giving misleading statements to this court and we hope that in future, they would desist from such misadventure otherwise in appropriate cases, we would be constrained to take strict action against the erring officials."