Under fire

Bhubaneswar, July 29: The monthly council meeting of Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) was held today to discuss on a range of issues.

It was decided to restrict the proliferation of booths of Orissa State Cooperative Milk Producers’ Federation Limited (OMFED) and Orissa State Poultry Products Cooperative Marketing Federation Limited (OPOLFED) in the city. Apart from this, it also decided to demolish booths that have come up in violation of norms.

The civic body allows an area of 64sqft to each booth, but in many cases owners have exceeded the limit and made seating arrangements. In certain instances, the area has even gone up to over 100sqft. Also, permission given to such booth owners near busy squares and traffic joints has resulted in serious traffic problems in peak evening hours when OPOLFED booths attract more customers.

The councillors also pointed out that many fake OMFED and OPOLFED booths have mushroomed in the city and they must be identified and action taken against them. Many such booths are functioning on footpaths or illegally occupying land near congested traffic junctions. The council also decided that the issue must be referred to the city management group, which meets every month, with representation from the general administration department, Bhubaneswar Development Authority, Cuttack-Bhubaneswar police, public works department and many other departments.

The council also took a decision to extend the parking contracts at various locations that fall in BMC areas to another three months with a hike in 20 per cent in the current bidding price.

“Councillors also expressed concern over the collection of trade licences. Where there could be around 1.5 lakh traders, trade licences are being collected from less than 50,000 traders. After a discussion it was decided to conduct a survey and include all the traders in the licensing process,” said Amaresh Jena, councillor of ward No. 49.

BMC officials said that new guidelines to include more traders would be introduced by the civic body soon.

The council took a decision to expedite the execution of eviction processes so that natural drainage channels may be freed from clogging. The councillor of ward No. 49 suggested a regular review by the deputy municipal commissioner of cases relating to encroachment so that eviction drives can be expedited.

The council also accepted a proposal to make use of new lighting technologies to reduce the BMC’s power bill.