Bhubaneswar: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik inaugurated a slew of projects in the capital city Monday. Aside from opening the state-of-the art Bhubaneswar Operations Centre (BOC), he inaugurated two other projects and laid the foundation stone for two more.
After the inauguration the CM said, “The BOC will help in operating services in the city more efficiently.”
The Chief Minister inaugurated the command and control centre of the city and the new Smart City Office on the fifth floor of the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC)-Bhawani Mall in Saheed Nagar. The CM also laid the foundation stone of a sensory park for children with special needs at Saheed Nagar.
Designed by the Bhubaneswar Urban Knowledge Centre (BUKC), the park will have ramps and facilities like sand pit and rubber flooring to prevent injuries to kids while playing.
For visually-challenged children, there will be Braille and sound walls along with a reflexology path specially created by integrating soil, grass and pebbles. The park will extend over four acres and will cost around Rs 1 crore.
Six neighbourhood parks in the Sahid Nagar area have been redesigned as interactive play spaces for children with child friendly smart features.
Naveen also laid the foundation stone of an Integrated Public Service Centre (IPSC) at Bapuji Nagar. The IPSC will have a bill payment centre, dispensary, crèche and community group space, ward office, multipurpose hall, library and reading room and skilling centre.
The centre will address the social and urban service needs of nearby neighbourhoods and provide space for community interaction. It will be developed over an area of three acres.
The design will have elements from the temples of Old Bhubaneswar. There will be a window mesh adopted from Mukteswar temple and elephant motifs inspired from Parasurameswar temple.
The BMC Commissioner, BDA Vice-Chairman and Bhubaneswar Smart City SPV MD Krishan Kumar said, “Our project needs two years. Today it has completed about six months. There is still one and half years ahead. As a first step, the CM today inaugurated the Bhubaneswar Operations Centre. It houses the traffic signal system.”
“It will also control the street lighting system. Besides, 90 per cent of city buses have been fitted with GPS. Within a year all city buses will be covered. In addition, solid waste management will also be taken up. It will be monitored from here whether garbage is being cleared or not,” he said.
“There will also be a grievance cell here. A 24×7 helpline will be in position here. Now one or two services will be adding up in every two months. In the next two years all services will be available. Representatives of all departments will be available here for meeting emergencies,” Krishan Kumar added.
Bhubaneswar Smart City SPV CEO Vineel Krishna said, “Rs 400 crore has been spent already. The Centre sanctioned Rs 200 crore and the state gave Rs 200 crore. Parking is a major problem in the city. That project has also been taken up. Tenders have to be called twice regarding this as the first one did not get proper response. However, we hope that the first ever multi-level car parking facility will be completed in the next 7 to 8 months. The second one will be bigger.”