Bhubaneswar, June 23: The Odisha State Pollution Control Board has asked the civic body to identify villages on city outskirts and explore the option of constructing public and community toilets there.

The Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation has taken up the job of constructing 27 public toilets, 26 community toilets and 32 hybrid toilets in the city to ensure cleanliness and encourage hygienic practice among its residents.

However, the civic body is executing the plan only in areas within its limit of jurisdiction, not on the outskirts.

As a result, people of localities such as Shijua, Tomando, Andharua, Dumduma, Patrapada, Aeginia, and Pokhariput remain deprived of such civic services despite living close to the city limits.

Shijua, which is situated close to Bhubaneswar and where the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) is located, is also deprived of public toilets.

"The Central Pollution Control Board has asked us to extend the services to the nearby areas based on an order passed by the National Green Tribunal. We have asked the civic body to explore the option," said an official of the Odisha State Pollution Control Board.

The city civic administration is in a process of constructing 26 community toilets and 27 public toilets under Project Samman and another 32 hybrid toilets under the ambitious Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (Amrut).

"We frequently receive complaints from the residents of the peripheral areas that they do not get any civic service," said mayor Ananta Narayan Jena.

"We are happy to extend our services to the residents living on the city outskirts, but we cannot go beyond our boundary. We will have a meeting with the pollution control board and the state government and start identifying villages for construction of toilets. We are here to help the people and provide them quality services," said Jena.

"The premier AIIMS is situated in our area. But, there are no civic amenities or facilities here. In absence of the toilets, people urinate in the open, polluting the area. Besides, potholed roads and lack of streetlighting are other major problems in our area," said Prabhakar Behera, a resident of Shijua.