Bhubaneswar, May 7: A residential colony near Patia developed 16 years ago is still hamstrung by poor facilities.

But there does not seem to be any respite in sight for the residents as authorities of the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) and the Odisha State Housing Board (OSHB), which developed the colony, refusing to accept sole responsibility for the apathetic condition.

Prasanti Vihar, the colony with 937 houses, was developed in 1997 in ward No.1 of the BMC.

Poor condition of roads, non-availability of drains, lack of playgrounds and market complexes are some of the major grouses of the residents of the colony.

Municipal commissioner Sanjib Kumar Mishra said: “Though the project was developed 16 years ago, the corporation cannot change the scenario overnight as developing the infrastructure needs huge investment.”

“We are trying our best to provide the residents with better amenities, and for that, we have placed more dustbins to manage the solid waste mechanism in the area,” he added.

However, officials of the OSHB said that after handing over the houses to their respective owners, it becomes the civic body’s responsibility to develop the area.

In 1997, the board had written a letter to the corporation after handing over the vacant plots for development.

“According to the law, we can use only 65 per cent land for construction, and the rest of the open space is to be developed by the civic body or the development authority. The board is to construct affordable houses. So, we take money only to build houses. For other development work, we don’t charge even a pie from the customers,” said board secretary Siba Prasad Misra.

Stating that according to the Apartment Act, 1982, of the state government, the allottees have to form a residents’ welfare association to take care of the maintenance work in their colony. “This condition is mentioned on the brochure,” said Misra.

Members of the Prasanti Vihar Unnayan Parishad and the senior citizens’ development forum feel that the board cannot do away with its duty by merely writing letters to the corporation.

“The housing and urban development department should develop a co-ordination mechanism to address these issues,” said senior citizen Niranjan Barik.

“There was no water supply scheme since 1997, and only two months ago, the work started in a collaborative manner between the board and the public health engineering organisation. The authorities assured us to get it done by six months,” said board secretary Hemanta Mishra.

“The 80ft-wide approach road, which was allotted to the board exclusively for the colony, has also been partially encroached,” he said.

“The locality had only 20 light posts till March 2011. Later, the civic body added 45 tube lights and 30 sodium vapour bulbs. But, we need a better street lighting system,” said former secretary of the parishad and advocate Sanjeeb Kumar Rout.

However, for the better upkeep of 18 open spaces, earmarked for parks at the colony, the parishad had written a letter to the general administration department on September 12 last year.

The department asked the Bhubaneswar Development Authority to construct boundary walls. Work has started to fence five such open spaces in the colony.