Garbage dumped on a roadside at Unit-I area in Bhubaneswar. Picture by Sanjib Mukherjee

Bhubaneswar, Feb. 23: The busy Unit-I area that houses banks, educational institutions and a daily market is short on civic amenities. The state of roads here is no better.

Even though mayor Ananta Narayan Jena’s official residence is located in the area, the residents do not gain much when it comes to civic amenities. Last year, the only road renovated in this area was the one from Air India’s regional office to the residence of the deputy commissioner of police.

Saswati Mohapatra, a homemaker, said: “Roads in the neighbouring Unit-II, Unit-VI and Forest Park areas are being renovated on a regular basis. But the authorities are not paying any attention to this area. While the public works department (PWD) has constructed a 40-feet road in Unit-VI behind Bhubaneswar Club, not a single road in Unit-I has been widened and provided with pavements.”

Executive engineer of PWD (division II) in the city Prashant Patra said: “We have finished work on one road and the other one from the SBI main branch to the driving training college is incomplete. Work on the rest of the roads was awarded to a contractor, but it is pending because he is delaying it. The work will be finished by March-end this year.” Patra said while major roads were under the PWD, the the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation maintained the inner roads.

However, the mayor countered the PWD’s claim.

“Not a single road inside Unit-I belongs to the municipal corporation. All roads belong to the PWD and we will co-ordinate with their authorities so that repairs are taken up immediately,” Jena said.

Apart from road-related problems, the cleaning of conservancy lanes also does not happening.

Kamalakanta Behera, a local resident, said: “The Unit-I market renovation plan is being delayed by the civic authorities and so, three roads near the market are lying partially encroached upon by vendors. If proper cleaning near the nearby roads and conservancy area is not taken up soon, vector-borne diseases will break out in the coming days.”

The mayor, however, assured that the civic staff would take up regular cleaning of the area near the Unit-I market.

“Once the proposed multi-storeyed Unit-I market is built following commonly agreed upon terms and conditions, there would be no problems. The conservancy cleaning will be taken up soon,” he said.