Bhubaneswar Development Authority

Bhubaneswar, June 1: The development authority here will send a delegation of representatives of Madanpur, a village in the city outskirts, to Ahmedabad to see the town planning activities being carried out there.

On their return, these representatives — nearly 15 including sarpanchs and ward members — will convince their people in favour of a proposed modern town in their area. At present, the residents of Madanpur are opposing a survey started by the Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA) in the area for a modern township.

“We will send the delegation to Gujarat. The BDA will bear the cost of their visit and stay. We would like them to see the development work there and convince the residents back home about the benefits of the plan. Our effort is to remove the villagers’ apprehensions,” said BDA vice-chairman Krishan Kumar.

The BDA has planned the township under a new town planning scheme on the likes of Ahmedabad where the state government does not have to spend money on land acquisition like it usually does in other places.

The BDA proposes to create a township over 1,208 acres in seven villages. While Jagasara village will contribute 579 acres, Madanpur will provide 73 acres and Paikarapur’s share is 317 acres. Kaimatiapatna, Bidyadharpur and Jagasarapatna would contribute three, seven and 23 acres of land. The government already has 94 acres.

One of the salient features of the scheme is that the BDA would keep 40 per cent of the land for common use. The remaining 60 per cent will be with the landowners. From the BDA’s share of land, it will build roads, drains, parks, and necessary civic amenities required for a township. Once the basic facilities are in place, the area will be become a modern township.

“The villages will become an integrated part of planned development. This will also help the villagers because the cost of the land will go up and people from outside would prefer to move to such a location,” said an official.

The survey for the township is being carried out by a private agency in these villages and it is supposed to get over by the end of June. However, the authorities have been facing stiff resistance from the local residents because they apparently do not have a clear idea of what is going to happen.

“We are trying to convince them that they will not lose but gain because the cost of their property will go up. We hope the delegation, once it comes back, will convince the residents about the benefit of the scheme,” said a BDA official. However, an expert said that the BDA should have undertaken such a project in comparatively smaller area, may be over 100 or 200 acres. Seeing the success of the small project, people in other areas would have been happy to co-operate with the authorities.