Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government has decided to conduct an annual convention of all mayors and chairpersons of urban local bodies (ULBs) in the state. This decision was taken in the wake of overwhelming response from the ULB chiefs during a two-day orientation workshop organised in the city here. The workshop concluded Tuesday.
For the first time, an induction workshop for the elected chiefs of all the 114 ULBs was organised by the Odisha government. The participants were oriented about their roles and responsibilities and successful implementation of the flagship programmes.
Housing and Urban Development (H&UD) Minister Pratap Jena interacted with the mayors and chairpersons on various urban initiatives of the Odisha government. At the end of the workshop, he handed over certificates to the participants.
Senior officials of the H&UD department described in detail to the participants on key functions of the department and focus areas of the Odisha government, including the 5T initiative.
In addition, the elected ULB chiefs were also informed in detail about the various initiatives in water supply, housing, sanitation and employment generation. The participants in the workshop were told details regarding the drink from tap mission, decentralised solid and liquid waste management, Mukta, Jaga Mission, smart LeD streetlight programme and other urban development schemes of the Odisha government.
H&UD Secretary G Mathi Vathanan said the state government will organise such orientation workshops for all the newly-elected councillors and corporators at the regional level.
“We are happy to note that the two-day orientation workshop was very well received by the participants and they were keen to know more about the urban development schemes and programmes,” Vathanan informed.
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had inaugurated the workshop Monday and advised the mayors and chairpersons of the ULBs to provide better services to the people by adhering to the 5T governance principle of the Odisha government.