Flood control measures in northern parts of Balasore, known as flood prone area of the State, will be the major poll plank for the political parties in the district. While people face the fury of flood every year during monsoon, assurances made by the politicians for flood management turn hollow once normalcy is restored. Northern parts of the district consisting of four major blocks - Basta, Baliapal, Jaleswar and Bhogarai - besides parts of Sadar and Remuna blocks used to suffer at least four months a year due to floods in Budhabalanga, Subarnarekha and Jalaka rivers. Not only properties worth crores of rupees get damaged every year, scores of people also die. Subsequently, the government proposes several projects to control floods in the river systems, but once the normalcy is restored, the proposals gather dust. With the poll date approaching, political outfits have geared up to highlight the obsolete infrastructure of the region. The region is going into polls on April 17. Locals said the northern blocks have been witnessing frequent floods since 2006 after the faulty construction of NH-60 which has less water passages than its previous version. Lack of flood control measures in Subarnarekha and Budhabalanga also adds to the woes. Non-execution of Subarnarekha Sanskar Yojana (SSY) and delay in renovation of Coast Canal are termed as the reasons for the frequent floods in Subarnarekha. Sources said the region has been experiencing major floods since 1972. Though the multi-crore project SSY of `950 crore was proposed by the State government in 2008 and sent for the approval of Central Water Commission (CWC), clearance has not been received yet. When launched, it was hoped to transform Subarnarekha, the ‘river of woes’ into a ‘river of prosperity’ and turn vast stretches of arid land in the tribal heartland into greeneries. The project included construction of 40 high level spurs with launching and packing to protect the bank and flood protection capital embankment. Besides, conversion of 80-km test relief embankment to capital embankment and dredging of river mouth of nearly 12 km will also be done. The objective was to control flood and check bank erosion which is now languishing in uncertainties. The locals demand the project to start immediately for betterment of nearly 10 lakh people in the region. Politicians come during polls and promise us. But this time we need commitment, they said. Sources said after 2007 and 2008 flood that damaged properties worth over `620 crore in the district besides killing over 30 persons, a proposal of `14.37 crore was made for strengthening Subarnarekha embankment and construction of spurs near the vulnerable points, which are also yet to be taken up. Properties worth `522 crore were damaged in Balasore district in last year flood.