Bhubaneswar: The administration's dillydallying over developing Old Town, otherwise known as Ekamrakhestra, in the city has derailed its grand plans to maintain the area's beuaty.

In 2016, the Bhubaneswar Development Authority's heritage wing devised a plan to replace all signages in front of different structures at Old Town with uniform ones. It had also redesigned the signage and lso floated a tender for the project.

However, no progress has been made so far with the same signages used to inform and direct tourists and other visitors. Sources said the delay was caused by the development authority's failure to find executors.

"We floated the first tender in December 2016, but the document had some flaws. We rectified those and floated a fresh one last October. The bidders found some errors in that document as well, and we dropped it in November. We will float another tender in a month," said a development authority official.

The authority also devised a rigorous guideline to regulate general signages and display boards for Old Town late last year. The guideline also gives the civic body control over irregular display boards. However, the authorities have failed to implement the guideline as well.

Mayor Ananta Narayan Jena said the guideline was framed and circulated among officials. "We are going to form a special enforcement squad to look after its implementation at Old Town by sensitising all advertisers and shopkeepers about it within a month," he said.

The latest setback, however, came when Odisha Power Transmission Corporation Limited postponed its plans to lay high-tension underground cables before the Men's Hockey World Cup in November, citing traffic congestion.

"The government asked us to complete the work before November. But we realised after a field survey that it would not be possible to complete it by the deadline and we informed the government," said a corporation official.

Dotted by several big and small temples, Old Town lends its temple city to the city. However, it continues to struggle with sanitation issues and lack of infrastructure such as roads and drains.

"There are too few waste bins that result in people randomly throwing garbage. Construction debris is also dumped in different parts. The authorities recently started constructing a parallel drain, but the pace is too slow," said Balaram Jena, a resident.