Bhubaneswar, Aug 31: Rain was unable to dampen the spirits of chief minister Naveen Patnaik and other guests as they attended a number of inauguration and foundation laying ceremonies organised to mark Local Self Government Day today.

The programmes were organised by the Bhubaneswar Municipality Corporation (BMC) in different parts of the city.

The celebrations began with flag hosting on the premises of the BMC office which was followed by the inauguration of the front office of the BMC.

The celebration continued with inauguration of a community centre at Kapila Prasad Bhoisahi and opening of a casualty room at Municipality Hospital.

The road from Sishu Bhavan Square to Capital Hospital Square was named Maharaja Krushna Chandra Gajapati Narayan Deb Marg. In the afternoon, a bridge at Aigania was inaugurated.

Yet another ceremony was held at Exhibition Ground where a modern sweeping machine was dedicated to the residents of the capital.

The machine, which can clean a stretch of up to five kilometres in an hour, has been procured through a private company involved in the cleaning of roads. The machine that uses German technology is priced at over Rs 50 lakh.

In the evening, LED (light emitting diode) street lighting system from Ram Mandir Square and Master Canteen was inaugurated.

This is the first system of its kind in the city and was installed at a cost of nearly Rs 82 lakh.

Since August 28 several projects have been launched in the city.

These include foundation laying ceremonies of three foot over-bridges.

During this period street lights were also installed at different places.

Inauguration ceremonies for a city bus terminal at Pokhariput and beautification drive in front of the State Secretariat could not take place.

“Our main objective is to finish all the projects on time,” said Anant Narayan Jena, mayor of BMC.