Balasore: Angargadia and Jadabpur slum areas under Balasore Municipality have undergone a complete facelift. They have changed for the better with small parks coming up in these localities and giving the two slums a different look altogether. This has been possible as the municipality is spending huge sums for beautification projects. The effort is to provide the slum dwellers, especially kids, the same facility that people in urban areas enjoy.
Under Mukhyamantri Karma Tatpara Abhiyan ‘Mukta’, a scheme of the Odisha government, the Balasore district administration has started open space development (OSD) projects. Under this project, small parks are being constructed in slums.
The objective of the ‘Mukta’ scheme is to provide employment to the urban poor during the times of the pandemic.
Angargadia and Jadabpur slums are the two localities where parks have been constructed giving both a complete new look. The parks have swings for children; also cement structures have been built where people can relax as well as exercise. The parks have been beautified with flowers and shrubs of different types.
Most importantly, the residents of the slums are engaged as labourers for maintenance and further development. It enables these persons to earn a living. The involvement of local slum dwellers also develops a sense of closeness with the project as they know that these new developments will be the main identities of their localities.
A single OSD project is carried out with the expenses ranging from Rs 1,00,000 and 2,00,000.
Executive officer of the Balasore Municipality Ashish Ishwar Pati talked about the future plans over such projects. “There are 41 slums under the municipality. Among them 21 are on government land. The rest of the slums have come up on lands owned by either the Railways or privately by individuals. We are facing problems in carrying out OSD projects on private lands,” informed Pati.
“In some slums, people are objecting to the construction of parks. Hopefully in future, we hope people will realise the importance of OSD and cooperate with us for such beautification projects,” Pati added.