CUTTACK : The Cuttack Municipal Corporation 's promises to repair all roads in the city before October 10 to make pandal hopping a smooth affair for revellers looks to have been a hollow one judging from the slow pace of work.The deadline just five days away, the civic body is yet to start repair work in a majority of the wards.Roads across Cuttack are in a deplorable condition and the delay in repair work has irked citizens and puja committees. "Roads in the entire Markat Nagar area are dotted with potholes and craters. Commuters face a harrowing time negotiating these roads," said DN Lenka, a longtime resident of the locality."We had hoped that the road conditions would improve during Durga puja, but the CMC is yet to start repair work in our ward," said SK Ghose, a resident of Sector 7 in CDA.Residents have alleged that CMCs lack of planning and negligent attitude is responsible for the situation. "The CMC has absolutely no planning or strategy to improve the condition of the roads. Repair work is being carried out here and there in a haphazard manner. The poor condition of roads will lead to serious traffic congestions during puja," said PK Sahoo, a member of the Khannagar Puja Committee.The possibility of bad roads leading to poor footfall in their pandals has worried puja committees. "The approach road to our pandal is in precarious condition. If it is not repaired before puja, we fear revellers will give a miss to our pandal," said N K Sahoo, member of the Chauliaganj Puja Committee.Puja committees also fear that potholes will affect the immersion procession. "Ideally the CMC should have completed at least 80 per cent of the road repair work by now. It would be really difficult to carry out the immersion procession on such uneven and bad roads," said a member of the Chaudhary Bazaar Puja Committee.However, the civic officials have claimed that before puja starts, the crates and potholes on the roads will be repaired. "The work is being carried out in a war footing manner. It will be over soon," said chairman of CMC's standing committee on health and sanitation, Ranjan Biswal.

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