Jayakrishnan Vu
Bhubaneswar, August 30: Huge expectations rest on the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) as the civic body is celebrating the Local Self Governance Day (LSG) Monday.
LSG is celebrated to promote the idea of devolution of power top-down and empowering Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) for effective implementation of development projects. The 73rd constitutional amendment also talks about the crucial role of urban local bodies in the
governance system.
The city has become a hot destination in the country for people wanting to pursue technical education. Students from across the country flock here to take admissions in some of the best institutes in India such as IIT-Bhubaneswar (IIT-B), All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) and XIMB (Xavier Institute of Management Bhubaneswar), to name only a few.
It has emerged as a major hub for IT companies such as Infosys, TCS, Wipro, among others who between them draw in large number of professionals from across the country.
Other facilities like an international airport and tourist attractions such as its long coast, ancient temples and Buddhist sites are considered a huge plus for the city’s appeal and future growth.
Speaking to Orissa POST, BMC mayor Anant Narayan Jena said a number of development projects aimed to provide world class amenities to citizens have been planned for the city.
He said under the Smart City Mission, the Centre would sanction `100 crore every year for five years that would give a boost to the city’s infrastructure.
Sanitation, LED streetlights, smart IT solutions and myriad other amenities such as 24×7 safe drinking water, better grievance addressing system are some of the other plans that would come under the Smart City project to be funded by the Centre.
The Smart City project would give a facelift to the city by providing better roads, cheap, accessible, hi-speed Wi-Fi network, the mayor said.
BMC officials said, plans are under way to give a modern look to the city by extending better health care to citizens, round the clock shelter homes, new cardiac building in the BMC hospital, among others.
Priority has been given to increasing the green coverage by planting more than one lakh saplings in the city to improve its air quality and to expand the green zones in the city. The green initiatives will make the city eco-friendly, the mayor said. More city buses will be introduced and a plan is afoot to increase the number of such buses to 200 by the end of this year.
For the rehabilitation of slum dwellers, projects such as a four-storied-building complex at Gadhakana that can accommodate 600 families would be built under the Rajiv Arogya Yojana (RAY) project to make the city slum-free and provide better lives to the homeless.
LED street lights numbering 23,000 would be installed to save energy, an initiative which has been replicated in other cities as well. Introducing smart solution for accessing government services such as LPG connections, electricity bills and a grievance mechanism to connect with BMC have also been planned.
Jena said he is hopeful of fulfilling the growing expectations of citizens and meeting the emerging challenges.
