Gajapati district: Ponds in Paralakhemundi in dire need of renovation, watch

Paralakhemundi: It seems the ponds in Paralakhemunid in Gajapati district of Odisha are in dire need of renovation. Most of the ponds in this town are not coming to the use of people. Here is a report from ground zero.

Established in 1885 Parlakhemundi in Gajapati district is the second oldest municipality of Odisha. In the colonial era, the chairman and executive officers of the municipality were being selected by the British government.

Among other works the Municipality was also taking care of the repairing, cleaning and renovation of the ponds in Parlakhemundi. There were so many ponds here for which sometimes Paralakhemundi was referred as the City of Tanks by the Britishers in London.

The locals call the pond as ‘Bandha’. Here there were many ponds such as Dhoba, Sankuri, Patnaik, Sadra, Dola pond and Laxman Sagar. But over time, the size of the pond gradually decreased.

After becoming a municipality, some ponds remained under the supervision of the municipality and some went to the revenue department.

Normally, the ponds which are out of the town went to the Revenue department. Ram Sagar, Sita Sagar and Laxman Sagar remained under the revenue department which is now under the irrigation department.

However, out of these three water bodies, the Laxman Sagar has lost its existence. It has been claimed that these days it remains only on the map because many buildings were erected in this place.

Similarly, the Dhoba, Sankuri, Patnaik, Sadra and Doda ponds are under the municipality. This ponds were reportedly dug with the donation of some saints and eminent persons. These ponds are now not coming to the use of people.

Lakhs of rupees have reportedly been spent for the improvement of these ponds in Parlakhemundi city. In 2009-2010, 13 lakh 53 thousand 864 rupees have been spent from the BRGF fund for the repair of Patnaik pond. And 9 lakh 57 thousand 599 rupees have been spent from GBG fund in 2012-2013Thirteenth Finance Commission. 4 lakh 70 thousand rupees have been spent for stone packing and repair of stairs from the special development program fund of 2014-2015. 1 crore 32 lakh 54 thousand 671 rupees have been spent from the OUIDF fund so that it can become useful. Yet, the pond has neither benefited the people nor has it stored water.

The city’s drain water is also seeping into the pond and thus the water of this pond is smelling. Similarly, 34 lakh 45 thousand 606 rupees have been spent from the BRGF fund in 2011-2012 for the improvement of Sankuri pond.

It has also been said that there has been no improvement in Dhoba pond.

Lack of potable water means that ponds are unusable for all kinds of Parlakhemundi municipal executive officer said that the government’s pond plan for the renovation and repair of ponds is ongoing. Currently, work is going on in my pond project in Sadrabandh and Shankuri ponds. 28 lakhs for Sadra pond and 68 lakhs for Sankuri pond have been sanctioned. Now the work is going on.

Watch the video here:

Ponds in Paralakhemundi in dire need of renovation