Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government Wednesday launched ANKUR, a strategic initiative designed to catalyse urban growth across the state.
On the occasion, the state’s Housing and Urban Development (H&UD) Department signed MoUs with six leading organisations engaged in the urban development ecosystem in the presence of the department minister, Krushna Chandra Mahapatra.
Speaking at the launch, Mahapatra said, “ANKUR – Atal Network for Knowledge, Urbanisation and Reforms — represents a collective promise to build cities that are efficient, smart and above all, citizen-centric. This is a movement toward a Viksit Odisha, co-authored by communities, institutions and the government alike.”
Department’s Principal Secretary Usha Padhee said the genesis of ANKUR was not a single moment, but rather a series of reflections, conversations and collaborations.
“It was born out of a growing realisation within our department that the pace and complexity of urbanisation in Odisha required new thinking, new partnerships and new platforms,” she added.
Over the past year, through internal consultations and engagements with experts, practitioners and institutions across the country and beyond, a vision began to take shape, she said, adding that ANKUR emerged as an answer to those questions — a platform to co-create solutions, to institutionalise innovation and to sustain partnerships that can carry us through the next decade of urban growth.
As Odisha’s urban population is projected to triple by 2036, ANKUR has been envisioned as a transformative platform to co-create resilient, livable and future-ready cities.
“ANKUR aligns with the national aspiration of Viksit Bharat @2047, while responding to Odisha’s unique socio-economic and urban context. It will strengthen four strategic pillars of urban development – capacity building, knowledge and research, implementation support and innovation,” Padhee said.
PTI
