By Our Correspondent
BHUBANESWAR: The vote bank politics centric policies on slum dwellers of Bhubaneswar by the erstwhile BJD Government led by former Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has now started giving sleepless nights to BJP Government led by Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi.
Slum dwellers have encroached huge patches of land, Government Roads, civic amenities while people who purchased land or constructed home, finding it difficult to come out from their locations due to huge encroachment by slum dwellers.
Even at many places, there was no proper roads to constructed houses other other hand the Slum dwellers have occupied the entire space and have all amenities because they were voting for Naveen Patnaik’s BJD, sources said on Tuesday.
Those who have either purchased a land or constructed a house in Bhubaneswar, alleged that Naveen Patnaik Government strengthened the Slums and slum dwellers have even become owner of public roads and public installations.
Officials admitted that, Slum does not belong to poor people while all this Government land is now property of land mafia , poor people only stay there , now they start encroaching Civic amenities.
On several occasions, Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation, Bhubaneswar Development Authority and General Administration Department bulldozed several illegal encroachment and unauthorized constructions, but with active support from then BJD Government, demolition drive did not affect slum dwellers till date while encroachment are on rise causing damage to civic life.
Slum dwellers have huge unity because they were funded by BJD. Sources argued that the new BJP Government should deploy honest officers during demolition drive.
Odisha Government should follow Mohali-Chandigarh model , where slum dwellers were settled in cable fencing shelters and getting free bus services.
All recentt Slums should be demolished and the should go for huge plantation . Bhubaneswar becoming one of highest CO2 emitter these days . Internal Road network is very bad , nasty condition and even an Ambulance cannot move in Jaydev Vihar and Nandan Kanan Road, sources said.
‘Gone are those days when rural area only need development . In fact the last Government had spread Good road net work in rural area at the cost of urbanites . They were doing it to create vote banks . Now those vote bank politics should be over. Let them depute Officers to learn from Chandigarh Mohali model,” a Bhubaneswar Resident, said who constructed a home, but facing trouble after road was encroached by slum people.
Take the case of Pune city in Maharashtra, compare it with Bhubaneswar, said another resident. In Bhubaneswar, Local Corporators of Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation, mostly were from BJD, have been putting their wight behind slum people for vote bank while civic amenities taking backseat.
‘We don’t have good restaurants here with authentic odia food , as we don’t have the skill to sell our USP . We have not developed Bhubaneswar , Cuttack , Puri , Rourkela , Sambalpur , Jharsuguda , Koraput , Jaypur , Berhampur , Baripada as Cities of Odisha , the economic Shrines of State,’ they said.
On contacted a senior official of Housing and Urban Development Department admitted about huge encroachment in Capital City and said, fresh demolition drive will be carried out by BMC, BDA and GA Department jointly at several locations, where large scale encroachment and unauthorised constructions were reported.
Sources said, since BMC now managed by BJD people, senior officials are not taking risk but if State Government issue fresh directive, then something may happen. Recently , State Revenue Minister Suresh Pujari has also expressed concern over large scale illegal encroachment on Government roads and properties.
