Incomplete construction work of a kalyan mandap at Unit VI in Bhubaneswar. Telegraph picture

Bhubaneswar, June 7: With a population of more than 10 lakh, the capital city is in urgent need for more community halls and ‘kalyan mandaps’ to hold social gatherings.

But strangely, Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) has been sleeping over a plan for a kalyan mandap in the city’s Unit-VI area since 2004. A kalyan mandap on the site, which is close to a multi-storeyed housing project of the Orissa State Housing Board (OSHB), has been a major demand of the residents of the Unit-VI area, which has no such community house.

“The only nearby kalyan mandap is at Unit-VIII, which remains crowded almost on every occasion. So, we need a space for community gathering and social events. But ever since the foundation stone laying ceremony on the Local Self-Government Day in 2004, only the plinth area has been developed. I have raised the issue in at least at six council meetings. But, no progress has been made so far,” said councillor of ward No. 45, Pranab Kishore Swain.

The area, which mainly belongs to government servants and a few private house owners, has now grown with the change in population profile. A number of multi-storeyed structures constructed by the OSHB and its collaborators have also come up here. Apart from a few kalyan mandaps run by private entrepreneurs, the area lacks the event-organising facility and badly needs a structure.

According to a BMC source, the contractor who took up the construction work in 2004, had taken up three projects — at Sahid Nagar, Bapuji Nagar, and Unit VI — worth over Rs 5crore. However, due to pressure from the higher authorities to concentrate more on the works at Sahid Nagar and Bapuji Nagar, work for the Unit-VI project took a backseat. “The BMC officials should have asked the contractor to finish the task fast. But it never happened and the neglect ultimately resulted in the mess depriving the entire area to have a kalyan mandap,” added Swain.

Deputy municipal commissioner Priyadarshi Mohapatra said: “We have to examine the files first and only then can we say why there was a delay in execution of the project.” At present, the BMC is running seven kalyan mandaps across the city. As the civic authority is trading cautiously in venturing into new projects as they are not becoming profit-making ventures for the civic body, private players have also ventured into the business.