Post News Network
Bhubaneswar, Dec 20: The government has expedited efforts to merge the Public Health Engineering Organisation (PHEO) with the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC).
The move is in line with the 74th constitutional amendment that mandates the state government to merge the town planning, PHEO (water department) and the drainage department with the urban local body to bring all key services under one platform.
People will, as such, not need to make rounds of various departments to get water connections and approvals of building plans.
Housing and urban development department (H&UD) sources said the move is aimed at preventing rampant illegal construction activities and unauthorised water connections.
Chief Secretary Gokul Chandra Pati has asked officials to take steps to merge PHEO with BMC following a meeting with H&UD secretary G Mathivathanan November 25, sources said.
PHEO would ask for the building plan and the permission of construction from Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA) to be produced before providing water connection to buildings up to
two storeys. In case of taller
buildings, water connections would not be given without producing building plans.
The Chief Secretary has directed officials to speed up the first phase transfer of operation and water supply installations to BMC according to the 74th constitutional amendment.
More than 65,000 consumers have got water supply connections from PHEO in the city.
“For a domestic connection, PHEO is charges `3.75 per 1,000 litres while for commercial/institutional it is `12.41 for the same quantity,” PHEO Bhubaneswar circle superintendent Cittaranjan Jena said.
Municipal commissioner Krishan Kumar confirmed the development.
However, the BDA Employees’ Joint Forum is up in arms against the move and has threatened to boycott routine work if their staff and planning cell are shifted from building regulator to the civic body.
