Bhubaneswar, Aug. 28: The state housing and urban development department has released Rs 3 crore to Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) to renovate natural drainage channel No. 1.
The land acquisition cost for the project has been estimated at Rs 9 crore.
The renovation of eight natural drainage channels was taken up as a part of the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) about a year ago. But only 1.6km of the 5.7-km channel has been renovated so far.
The corporation, which is the nodal body for the project, is supposed to provide land required for the project to the state water resources department.
Though the water resources department has already submitted a land plan and land schedule to the civic body, the corporation’s officials are facing a challenge in getting the work done because of encroachment.
“We are struggling to evict people from encroached stretches of the channel. The land acquisition process is also taking a lot of time. We need more staff to carry out the work expeditiously,’’ said a senior official of the corporation.
Executive engineer of drainage division (Cuttack) Pradip Duria, who is looking after the renovation of natural drainage channels No. 1, 2, 3 and 4, said: “Steps have already been taken to provide the water resources department with Rs 6 crore of the total Rs 9 crore required for land acquisition. The money will come through the municipal corporation.”
Acquisition of some 52 acres of private land will be required to renovate the eight natural drainage channels.
“Getting hold of all the land deeds or pattas, surveying the areas and getting the original plans from the map-publishing wing of the revenue department in Cuttack have proved to be a huge problem,” said an official of the corporation.
Though the water resources department had earlier estimated that the renovation of natural drainage channels No. 1, 2, 3 and 4 would require acquisition of five acres, a source said the estimate had now gone up to some 46 acres. Accordingly, the project cost is also expected to go up from the original Rs 68.33 crore to Rs 410 crore. A sizable chunk of this land is in private hands.
A meeting, presided over by principal secretary of housing and urban development department Injeti Srinivas last week, decided that the extra money required for land acquisition would be provided by the Bhubaneswar Development Authority from its own funds.
To speed up the land acquisition process, drainage division (Bhubaneswar), was asked in the meeting to provide the details of the land schedule plan to the corporation for work on natural drainage channels No. 5 and 6 by August 31 and channels No. 7 and 8 by September 15 respectively.
Sources said the development authority would carry out renovation of the natural drainage channel No. 10.
