Bhubaneswar: A brief spell of rain brought Bhubaneswar to its knees, yet again raising questions on its ‘Smart City’ status. Heavy rains paralysed daily movements as roads were flooded for hours with bringing traffic to a grinding halt at various places in the capital city today.

Today’s situation proved that the city is not at all prepared for the ensuing monsoon season the Met office has predicted heay rains will lash the city in the coming days.

What leaves the most astonished and disbelief is that when few cars were seen floating in water in front of the Iskcon temple in Nayapalli area in the heart of the city. Dozens of vehicles were deserted by their owners as the car engines stopped working. These photographs were extensively shared on social media platform and, few of them, took the opportunity to slam the civic authorities for the “flood” like situation.

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“Lovely. Happy swimming BBSR dwellers, Now you get a free pool in smart city,” Biswajit Mohanty, a city-based wildlife activist, wrote in his Twitter account.

Similarly, noted businessman Srikumar Mishra said the infrastructure in the city is crumbling due to bad planning and encroachments.

Flooded roads also resulted in traffic jams which continued for four to five hours. The worst hit were the two wheeler commuters who were seen struggling, pulling their vehicles in knee deep waters and also the pedestrians.

“It’s a regular affair in front of Iskcon temple after a brief spell of rain but today’s condition is horrible. The claims made by the local municipal authorities proved false as the sewer lines were choked and the rain water spilled on the roads,” said a local resident Partha Swain.

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Similarly, the stretch of Bomikhal along the Rasulgarh-Kalpana Square road was submerged with water giving people a harrowing time to pass the road.

Places like Acharya Vihar, Jaydev Vihar, Shastri Nagar, Satyanagar and Laxmi Sagar faced waterlogging issues following the rain. Water entered into the houses situated at low-lying areas of Acharya Vihar and other places.

Contacted, the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) authorities blamed the lackadaisical approach of National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) for the waterlogging problem near Iskcon temple in Nayapalli.

“We have already taken up the matter with NHAI authorities here and proposed them to construct a channel from Iskcon Temple area upto Acharya Vihar Square,” said BMC Mayor Ananta Narayan Jena.