By Our Correspondent
BHUBANESWAR: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik reviewed the key transformative initiatives of the Housing and Urban Development Department on Friday. The Chief Minister Patnaik will lay the foundation stone of the much-awaited metro rail project in June 2023 and the construction work is likely to start before the end of 2023.
The metro train will run from Bhubaneswar to Cuttack in the first phase. In the next phase, plans are being made to run metro trains to Jatni and Puri. The state government will bear all the expenses for the metro project.
Highlighting the major achievements of the H&UD Department, Minister Usha Devi said, “The Metro Rail System for Bhubaneswar Capital Regional has been sanctioned by the Chief Minister. Delhi Metro Rail Corporation is engaged as the consultant & DPR is under preparation. Construction work is likely to commence before the end of 2023.”
G Mathi Vathanan, Urban Development Department Principal Secretary informed that the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation is preparing its DPR and it has reached its final stage. The routes for metro rail movement have been identified.
The Housing & Urban Development Department (H&UDD) will continue to prioritise people-centric urban governance and improving the liveability of cities as envisioned by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, said H&UD Minister Usha Devi, & H&UDD Principal Secretary G. Mathi Vathanan, while addressing the media today.
The transformative journey of Urban Odisha made possible through innovative programmes across various sectors and under 5T governance principle, has made significant strides in recent years and will continue with the same vigour, they stated.
Among the key urban initiatives which have made a significant impact on the lives of the people are – JAGA Mission, Drink From Tap quality 24×7 water supply and MUKTA- the urban wage employment scheme – being implemented through community partnership with active involvement of Mission Shakti Women Self Help Groups (SHGs) and Slum Dweller Associations (SDAs).
Following are the status of completion of assurances given in Election Manifesto-2019
1.73 Lakh families granted with Land Right Certificates in Municipalities and NACs.
Slum Household survey has been completed in 5 Municipal Corporations. 1 Lakh slum families to be granted with Land Right Certificates by December 2023. More than 50000 LRCs are ready
1,62,327 has been constructed
In all 2055 wards in all 115 Cities Door to Door Garbage Collection ensured
252 Micro Composting Centres and 216 Material Recovery Facilities are functioning in 115 cities for processing the Solid Waste Generated
112 Faecal Sludge Septage Treatment Plants (FSTPs) are operational across
110 ULBs- to treat septage generated in the cities. All these waste processing facilities are operated and managed by the Mission Shakti & Transgender groups.
100% households in 5 Municipal Corporations are covered with pipe water supply connections
99% of households in remaining 110 ULBs are covered with pipe water supply. Remaining 1% households to be provided before December 2023.
In Berhampur-24×7 Drink from Tap to be completed by June 2023.
In Cuttack 24×7 Drink from Tap to be completed by December 2023.
In Rourkela-24×7 Drink from Tap to be completed by December 2023.
In Bhubaneswar 24×7 Drink from Tap to be completed by March 2024.
The Metro Rail System for Bhubaneswar Capital Regional has been sanctioned by Hon’ble Chief Minister. Delhi Metro Rail Corporation is engaged as the consultant & DPR is under preparation. Construction work is likely to commence before end of 2023.
Highlighting the major achievements of the Department, Minister Usha Devi stated we are in our journey in transforming the lives of Urban denizens.
Some of our major achievements are :
JAGA Mission :
Adhering to Hon’ble CM’s, principle of “Valuing People More than Land,” the Government instead of evicting people from slums, empowered them by granting Land rights and upgrading their infrastructure, amenities and services to transform slums to Biju Adarsh Colonies. Till now, 772 slums have been upgraded as Biju Adarsh Colonies and 4 towns namely Hinjilicut, Digapahandi, Rambha & Purosattampur have achieved slum free status. These efforts have received international recognition, and awards i.e. the two prestigious awards UN Habitat-World Habitat awards in 2019 and 2023.
Drink From Tap
Fulfilling another dream of Shri Naveen Patnaik, Hon’ble Chief Minister to provide safe and clean drinking water through tap water house connection to every household, 85 cities including all five corporations have achieved 100% tap connection for households under the Drink from Tap Mission. The remaining 30 cities would be covered before December 2023.
Hon’ble CM desired that our cities should be provided with water supply services at par with international cities. Puri & Gopalpur have become India’s first and second cities to achieve this distinction of 24×7 Drink From Tap quality adhering to IS 10500 standards. Another 21 cities will be completed under Drink From Tap mission by March 2024 benefiting 40 lakhs urban population, said Shri Mathi Vathanan. With Odisha being the first state in India to provide 24×7 directly drinkable water from taps, WATCO bagged the distinction of Global Water Leader Distinction Award in the Global Water Summit held in Spain in 2022. More than 900 Jala Sathis are engaged in the ULBs assisting in user fee collection, water quality testing, grievance redressal etc.
MUKTA , an Urban Wage Employment Programme:
Another programme which has greatly impacted the urban poor in providing wage employment is MUKTA which was launched during Covid pandemic crisis in April,2020. MUKTA is now implemented across 115 ULBs of the state through community partnership involving the Mission Shakti SHGs and the Slum Dweller Associations. More than 52,000 ward level projects including public parks, walking tracks, open Gyms, children play facilities, city beautification, rain water harvesting structures etc have been implemented in all the ULBs across the state. So far, 62 lakh person days have been generated under the scheme. This unique scheme has bagged two Global Awards namely the Guangzhou International Award 2021 and WRI Ross Prize for Cities in 2022.
