Bhubaneswar, April 25: Supply of piped water to the capital’s outskirts dominated the meeting of the council of the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation today.

While the Public Health Engineering Organisation (PHEO) is planning to add piped water supply with an investment plan of Rs 16.10 crore to areas hitherto uncovered by it, a senior engineer of the organisation presented the annual supply plan before the council for the first time.

According to the 74th amendment of the Constitution of India, the responsibility of supplying water lies with local civic bodies.

“Though many cities in other states have already included water supply responsibilities within the ambit of the municipal corporations, we are yet to start it in Bhubaneswar. But today, a PHEO engineer was invited so that he could realise our work pressure and receive suggestions from our councillors as well. Though it was only the beginning of a long process, today’s meeting was very fruitful,’’ said municipal commissioner Vishal Kumar Dev.

The PHEO proposed to build a 1-lakh gallon underground reservoir for Shashtri Nagar and the south-west side of Kalinga Stadium, a 1-lakh gallon underground reservoir for Baramunda village, Prakruti Vihar and Krishna Garden and Sishu Vihar in Chandrasekharpur and a 2-lakh gallon underground reservoir and supply network at the foothills of Niladri Vihar. It also plans to enhance the water supply from Ghatikia to Bharatpur, commission Naraj water supply up to Mulapadia, water supply to uncovered areas of Khandagiri and Ghatikia, improve water supply at Damana Square, Pragati Vihar and Maitree Vihar, extend water supply to Patia, build water pipeline at Infocity and Sampur and make water supply provisions for Brundaban Garden and Niladri Vihar.

Councillors of ward No. 34, 43 and 57 raised the issue of scarcity of water in their respective wards such as Shashtri Nagar, parts of Nayapalli and Nua Sahi, BMC slum quarters, Kapilaprasad and Sundarpada.

Councillor of ward No. 57 Krushna Chandra Sethi said a drinking water supply unit for his area was commissioned on August 31, 2006. But, it went out of order after a few months.

The municipal corporation, however, has issued a provision of giving Rs 2 lakh to each ward for providing drinking water during summer.

The PHEO has also presented a plan to provide water supply to the east Kuakhai area of Pahala and adjoining areas in ward No. 4. The residents of Pahala are facing not only lack of piped water supply, but also a water crisis because of the presence of iron in the groundwater.

Mobile tower

Another important decision that the BMC took today was that of collecting an annual licence fee of Rs 50,000 from mobile service operators for each tower. Earlier, the civic body was collecting an annual fee of Rs 17,500 from the mobile phone companies for each tower.

“The city has got around 400 mobile towers. So, now we are going to collect almost three times the revenue from those towers than what we have received till the last fiscal. But still, we are still lagging behind civic bodies such as the Hyderabad Municipal Corporation which is collecting an annual licence fee of Rs 1 lakh for each mobile tower,’’ said the commissioner.

Lingaraj temple

On the issue of maintenance of the Lingaraj temple, mayor Ananta Narayan Jena said the council today decided to take the responsibility of providing infrastructure relating to development of roads, drainage and cleanliness outside the temple premises. But from now on, the temple’s trust board would manage issues such as power supply and lighting on its premises.

The civic body’s recent decision to charge Rs 32,850 for illumination and repair of the Jagati (the temple located in the centre of Bindusagar) has drawn criticism. Finally, the trust board of Lingaraj temple has decided fund the illumination from its own resources.

Tax default

The council today also decided that defaulters of any taxes, fees or licences would have to pay more so that they would be forced to stick to deadlines.

“We have decided to add seven per cent extra interest along with the bank’s interest for the period of delay from the defaulter,’’ said the mayor.

The BMC has exempted road tax collection from bicycles, cycle-rickshaws and trolley-rickshaws as the printing cost of the tokens for collection of tax from these vehicles was more than the amount of tax collected.

“This will help students as they would not have to think of paying taxes for their bicycles anymore,’’ said a councillor.

Sitting allowance

The issue of the sitting allowance cropped up during the council meeting today. “Earlier, we pleaded for a salary, but it was never considered. However, the sitting allowance of Rs 500 was recently hiked to Rs 700. This is unacceptable ,’’ said a councillor on condition of anonymity.

Commissioner Vishal Kumar Dev said another proposal would be moved to the state government for re-consideration of the hike in sitting allowance.

Councillor of ward No. 18 Pratap Kishore Sahoo said: “We would have been benefited had the sitting allowance been made Rs 5,000.’’

Ashok Singh, councillor of ward No. 50, also added that the “meagre” hike was not justified.