Bhubaneswar, Oct. 19: The municipal corporation has urged the general administration department to ensure that construction of its new multi-storeyed office at Nayapalli kalyan mandap continues unhindered.

The administration department is the owner of all government land within the corporation area and allots them for specific public use. A few Nayapalli residents are opposing the construction on the ground that the mandap was a place for organising social, cultural and community functions in the area.

The Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation's letter to the chief secretary says that a number of marriage halls and community centres has come up in the area as an alternative to the existing facility and the use of the land for the office building would not affect the residents.

Mayor Ananta Narayan Jena told The Telegraph: "The corporation has decided to have its multi-storeyed office building at Unit-VIII kalyan mandap site, but some residents are creating a nuisance."

At a time when the corporation is about to come under the smart city category through a national-level scrutiny and selection process, the civic body needs a new office building, Jena added.

"We should have a spacious and smart office and the Unit-VIII kalyan mandap site is the best as it is located in the heart of the city,'' he said.

However, retired revenue department employee Yudhisthir Chhotaray said: "The civic body is already operating from a central location. Why they need an office elsewhere remains a mystery."

Nayapalli resident Bijay Mishra says that it is up to the civic body to decide where the main office building should come up.

"It will be a landmark building for Nayapalli, so we will be happy if it is constructed here," Mishra said.

On April 10, while inaugurating BMC's new branch office on the premises of the BMC-Bhawani Mall, the mayor had declared that the civic body would construct a 1.5lakh square feet multi-storeyed structure at a cost of Rs 100 crore. While in the first phase, a four-storeyed structure would be constructed for Rs 40 crore, it will be extended later.