Bhubaneswar: Problems for residents of Nandan Vihar, on the city outskirts, continues to linger with the municipal corporation sitting on its decision to take the area within its fold.

Residents alleged foul play by top officials for not taking steps to include the area in the jurisdiction of the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation, despite the panchayat giving its no objection to its inclusion.

"It is sheer injustice on part of the municipal corporation to sit on the file and do nothing concrete to include our area within its boundary," said resident Jitesh Mahana.

The long wait for inclusion has deprived the area of basic civic service such as proper roads, drains and streetlights.

Till the municipal corporation takes the area under its wings, Nandan Vihar remains a part of Kalranhanga gram panchayat, which is 500m away from Patia Square. The area has a population of 25000 people.

Nandan Vihar gained prominence with the inauguration of the Netaji Subash Chandra Bose bridge over Kuakhai and the ongoing Bhubaneswar new railway station project.

However, non-inclusion of the area in civic body limits has led to wastewater overflowing on the road and making it difficult residents to commute. The road is also in very bad shape. Absence of streetlights turns the area into a hideout for criminals after sunset.

Being a panchayat area, sanitation and sweeping activities and door-to-door collection of waste are available here. Waste bins are missing from the locality.

"Our area has become a sandwich as the surrounding localities are already included in the civic body's boundary. No proper service is available here," said Purna Chandra Patra, another resident.

Residents of Nandan Vihar demanded the inclusion of their area in the civic body's boundary since 2015. Last year, the panchayat had submitted a no-objection certificate with the Khurda district administration. The housing and urban development department has also asked the municipal corporation to take necessary steps for inclusion of the area before the coming elections. However, no concrete steps have been taken on the part of the civic officials.

"We are aware of the problems, but there is a process to include such areas into our boundary. I will personally look into the matter and initiate discussion with officials concerned. We will try to put the proposal at the next council meeting," said mayor Ananta Narayan Jena.

Resident Sritam Kumar Moharana said that due to availability of private land, many big and small residential projects, including one by the housing board, had come up in the locality.

"Some top officials are favouring real estate developers to help them get lands at lower prices. The developers know that if the area comes under civic limits, land prices will shoot up. Therefore, they don't want that to happen," said Sritam.