(Top) Flowers bloom on the median between AG Square and Governor’s House Square during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit to Bhubaneswar earlier this month and (above) dried up flowers at the same median now. Pictures by Ashwinee Pati

Bhubaneswar, Jan 27: The massive beautification drive that was undertaken when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh visited the city on January 3 to inaugurate the 99th Indian Science Congress is slowly withering away.

Flowering plants, which were planted along the roads and various parks to give the capital a better look, are now lying uncared for. Surprisingly, officials of the Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA) are turning a blind eye to them.

Chief horticulturist of BDA Ashok N. Dhar, however, said adequate care was being taken of these seasonal plants. When The Telegraph visited these beauty stretches, it found that at most places the plants were lying in neglect and had begun to wither for the lack of water.

“We have only adopted the stretch between AG Square and Governor’s House Square, where the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) had beautified the median in collaboration with a private organisation. As the median was not maintained properly, we planted some dwarf ficus varieties and flowering plants. As the flowering plants are seasonal in nature, they might have withered because of changing weather conditions. However, we will go on adding more seasonal flowers to the stretch in future,” Dhar said.

City-based urban management practitioner Piyush Ranjan Rout said: “It is not important whether the BDA or the BMC did the beautification, what is of concern here is that the process does not last throughout the year. The BDA’s horticulture wing should make it a continuous process. Only projecting something beautiful for a particular occasion and neglecting the stretch after the event is over does not look good and never serves a purpose.”

“In Indian metros such as Bangalore or in European cities, potted plants are used to beautify stretches. However, gardeners and horticulturists take proper care of the plants. But this is a case of sheer neglect. It seems that BDA officials are not serious about the city’s beautification initiatives,” Rout said.

On the other hand, on December 21, Dhar had told The Telegraph: “We have decided that beautification drives in the public-private participation mode will not help the city as there is no clear-cut policy regarding maintenance. So, the horticulture wing of the BDA has decided to revive the beautification drive in a vital stretch of the city.”

The BDA found that many plantations done by the private company had withered because they did not take proper care of the plants. The private company also did not replace the dead plants with new ones after the scorching summer.

“The BDA has decided that its horticultural wing will take up plantation work on the medians and along the avenues and stress will be on planting local ornamental varieties, which are long-lasting and not high on maintenance. Exotic varieties of plants are costly. So, we can have seasonal flowers on the median so that during winter the medians transform into beautiful stretches of flowerbeds. The flowering varieties will be changed after the winter season,” Dhar had said.

Utkal Gaurav Das, who works in a public sector undertaking and resides near Ganganagar, said: “The beautification process must be a permanent exercise. Temporary arrangements to project the city as a beautiful place cannot change the image of Bhubaneswar overnight.”

Reacting to the queries, the BDA officials clarified that the median and avenues were the property of the civic authorities. “Unless the BMC officials call us for plantation and beautification drives, we cannot do anything,” said a BDA official.

Sources at BMC, however, added that the civic authorities were finding it tough to maintain many of the beautified stretches because of local problems such as vandalism and theft of equipment.

For example, security arrangement at Kalinga Kanan, a beautification site, has become a headache for the BMC with the theft of valuable electrical installations becoming commonplace.

Kalinga Kanan, the biggest beautification project through an innovative landscaping work, was the result of a public-private partnership. However, after the execution of the project, the site was lying in neglect. Later, the BMC entrusted the maintenance activities to another company.

But when the maintenance staff of the new sponsor started executing the work, they faced several problems. The BMC environment officer found that the panel board of the submersible pump installed for watering the lawn and plants had been stolen.