Cuttack, June 18: Councillors are happy with the corporation deciding to spend Rs 29.50 crore - equally among the 59 wards - to ensure infrastructure development across the city.
"As decided by the municipal council, Rs 50 lakh would be provided to each of its 59 wards to construct roads and drains and ensure other civic amenities," municipal commissioner Bikash Mohapatra told The Telegraph.
The decision was taken after several councillors had alleged inadequate infrastructure development in their wards because of discrepancies in sharing out of funds among them.
As part of the process, the Cuttack Municipal Corporation has asked all its councillors to submit proposals for their respective wards.
"We are happy that equal amount of funds will now be spent in all the wards," said Giribala Behera, councillor ward No. 4. "I have already submitted 50 per cent of the proposal related to roads in my ward. Those for the rest 50 per cent will be submitted by the end of this week," Behera said.
Dharmananda Patra, councillor of ward No. 37, said: "It's good that it will prevent lopsided expenditure of funds in various wards. I have already submitted my proposal for development of roads and drains in my ward."
Official sources said the civic body had planned to start the new projects soon after monsoon was over. They said that after the proposals from all the councillors were received, the engineering division would examine those and prepare estimates for the new projects.
"Accordingly, tenders will be invited for undertaking the projects. We expect that the process of tender finalisation will be over before the end of rains," said Ranjan Kumar Biswal, chairman of the civic body's standing committee for sanitation.
The municipal commissioner said: "As part of our rain preparedness, we are ready with 275 de-watering pumps for use across the city. While 12 have been in place at permanent pumping stations at the chronic waterlogging spots, the rest - portable water pumps - have been positioned as part of our management plan for the city's flooding spots."
The high-power diesel pumps, ranging from 5HP to 24HP, have been assigned for the low-lying areas prone to inundation by overflowing drains.
"Besides, the annual exercise for silt removal from all surface water channels to maintain their full flow capacity has almost been completed," he said.
As the outflow capacity of the two main storm water channels and the branch drains gets decreased by nearly 50 per cent because of the sludge load, the civic body carries out the silt removal operation every year before the monsoon.
In another development, the corporation has also decided to complete the road repair job in the city before Durga Puja starting September 28.
"A separate allocation of Rs 3 lakh has been earmarked for each of the 59 wards for repairing potholes in roads before the Puja," the municipal commissioner said.
President of Balu Bazar-Binod Behari Puja Committee Suryakanta Sangneria said: "To ensure a smooth Durga Puja in the city, improvement in the present condition of the roads is essential in view of the increase in volume of traffic." He said: "When the idols of 150-odd puja mandaps across the city are taken in a procession on the immersion day, the condition of the roads become all the more vital."
