Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation had an eventful 2014 with many projects being undertaken and successfully commissioned. The Telegraph lists a few of its achievements and plans for the next year.
PHEO under civic control: From this year, the water supply agency, Public Health Engineering Organisation, in the city will function under the guidance of the city engineer of BMC.
Mobile app: The corporation is shortly going to introduce a mobile application software (app) through which citizens can directly give their suggestions.
The year that was
Save energy: The corporation has started replacing conventional street lights with the light-emitting diode (LED) bulbs. It has converted around 3,000 street lights with the LEDs so far. However, the target is 20,000 that the civic body wants to achieve by April 2015. There are around 35,000 street lights in the city and the corporation spends Rs 70 lakh to Rs 80 lakh a month on them. The switch to LED will reduce the power bill by 80 per cent.
Demolition drive: The civic body, in collaboration with the Bhubaneswar Development Authority, demolished three major buildings across the city sending a strong message to the encroachers. Removal of blockade over a natural drainage channel near Ekamrakanan was also another highlight.
Clean drive: New dustbins and compactor vehicles were pressed into action in June 2014 for effective solid waste management. The corporation took care of eight wards, while the private organisations such as Ramkay Environment Engineers Ltd, Jagruti Welfare Organisation and PMR Consortium took care of 52 wards.
Waste disposal: Civic bodies of the twin cities on May 29, 2014 signed an agreement with two Mumbai-based companies - Essel Infraprojects Ltd and Rochem Separation Systems (India) Private Ltd - to establish a regional municipal solid waste processing plant and landfill facility at Bhuasuni. The plant is likely to cost Rs 200 crore and would be ready within two years. It will also produce 11.5MW of electricity as by-product.
On-street parking: The corporation, in collaboration with police, started marking slots for on-street parking along the Janpath in December. In the first phase, the marking was done between Rajmahal and Master Canteen Square. Under the new process, parking lots for individual vehicles will be technically referred to as equivalent car space (ECS). While the ECS for cars will be 1, for two-wheelers it will be 0.2, and for autorickshaws it will be 0.6.
Foot overbridge: The foundation stone for the first foot overbridge at Jayadev Vihar was laid in 2012, and it was supposed to be over by 2014. However, so far only the foundation level has been completed. Two more bridges are planned near Ashok Nagar market and Rupali Square.
