PURI, July 20, 2013: Even though devotees braved a steady downpour and waded through a waterlogged Grand Road to participate in Bahuda Yatra and Suna Besha on Thursday and Friday, they came down heavily on the district administration for lack of preparedness. 

"We will definitely address the issue of waterlogging at the earliest," Puri collector Naba Kumar Nayak said. 

Though the district received funds under the ambitious Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) for overhaul of the beach town's infrastructure, including water disposal facility, most of the projects are moving at snail's pace. A Rs 137-crore drainage project got the central nod on April 2009. Sources said, till December 2012, only 6% work has been done. 

Chief engineer, drainage, R C Panda said encroachments and heavy traffic of the town were major hindrances in executing the project.

Source: The Times of India, DT. July 20, 2013.