BHUBANESWAR: The Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation ( BMC ) on Tuesday decided to conduct a fresh survey to identify the original paths of the city's natural drainage channels. The survey will help it reclaim the land of the natural drains and take up renovation and expansion work accordingly.In the first phase, drains 4, 7 and 10 would be surveyed, said Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA) additional commissioner (enforcement) Bhabani Shankar Chayani . "The survey will help us find exactly what is blocking the natural channels of the city," said an officer of the BDA."After completion of the survey, eviction will resume in the catchment areas," BMC drainage division executive engineer Pradip Sagar Duria said."To expand the drains in some areas, we will have to demolish private houses and reclaim private plots. Compensation will be accorded in proportion to the land used for the purpose," said Duria. This will be done under Section 288 of the Odisha Municipal Corporation Act, 2003.In future, the officer said, the people should first see that the land they are buying does not encroach upon drains. "We are saying this in the interests of the people. It is taxing for both the enforcement agencies and the people if a private land is found to have encroached on the drains," a government officer said.On Monday, seven families living in a house built on drain 4 were asked to leave. The building was then razed by a joint squad of the BDA and the BMC. The squad has so far cleared obstructions in drains in as many as 36 locations to contain the problem of waterlogging.

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