Water from a damaged sewer line floods a road at Kalinga Vihar in Bhubaneswar. (Inset) The report published in The Telegraph on April 5 (file picture)

Bhubaneswar, Sept. 29: Residents of Kalinga Vihar Housing Scheme have welcomed the decision of the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation to include five more villages within the municipal limits.

The five villages — Subuddhipur, Bhagbanpur, Patrapada, Shankarpur and Paikirapurof Patrapada, Tamando and Paikirapur — were part of three gram panchayats and with their inclusion in the BMC area, these villages will be entitled to urban civic amenities.

The Telegraph had highlighted the woes of residents of Kalinga Vihar because of a total lack of civic amenities.

Although Kalinga Vihar, which houses nearly 3,000 families, was developed by the Bhubaneswar Development Authority, the area was deprived of the civic facilities as Tamando gram panchayat had administrative control of the area.

President of the Kalinga Vihar Community Welfare Association (KVCWA), B.B. Samant said: “The step taken by the BMC council will enable us to avail better civic amenities such as street lighting, better garbage and solid waste collection, construction of internal roads and an efficient drainage system.’’

“The welfare body has been fighting for these facilities for several years and we are happy that we will at last get better street lighting. Though the BDA developed the area almost a decade ago, there was confusion about the amenities. The drainage and sewerage are either lying defunct or in a damaged condition. Once the civic body takes up work here, we will have better living conditions,’’ Samant added.

While discussing the proposal during the BMC council meeting on Wednesday, the members had decided that BMC would include only five villages, and not all the 29 villages as suggested by the housing and urban development department over 101 sqkm. The department has suggested that the civic body should include all the villages as part of the city’s rapid urbanisation.

“BMC did not want to include all the 29 villages because of the immediate financial burden. Besides, the gram panchayats will not get any financial assistance under various rural development schemes. Once the villages are included in the urban fold, villagers will have to pay more taxes and villagers would oppose the move,” said a BMC official.

Mayor Ananta Narayan Jena said: “The Council had approved the proposal for the inclusion of these villages in the BMC area a year ago. The government will soon notify the decision.”

However, senior BMC officials felt that as the elections to the panchayat bodies were likely to be held in February 2012, the notification might take more time.

In May, members of the Kalinga Vihar Citizens Welfare Association (KVCWA) had been resentful when the BDA had asked them to pay large amounts towards street lighting.

In BMC areas, charges for street lighting are nominal and a part of the holding tax.

“Not only the power issue, the entire housing area is suffering from many other problems such as overflowing of sewage water onto the roads and broken drains which ultimately damage the main and internal road networks. The development authorities should expedite the notification process,’’ said a member of the welfare association.