Rourkela: The entire functioning of the Odisha State Housing Board here is nothing but hogwash. Besides, its closure looks imminent as the staff strength of this once vibrant office has reduced to tokenism with no new visible project here.
Meanwhile, house owners are an unhappy lot as they have to take a tour of the state capital Bhubaneswar for every minor work. The office, set up here in 1975, had undertaken three massive housing projects to satiate the needs of the city. “But, today this is nothing but a skeletal representation. The office is just for the sake of tokenism. It also can’t function with such a meagre staff strength,” said an aggrieved house owner here, who is waiting to get a transfer of the property to his name. He again said, “For every minor work one has to go to Bhubaneswar as the staff here can’t do anything. Also even for the smallest of work, one has to grease their palms.” “Why one shall run to Bhubaneswar when there are over 5000 house owners in Rourkela?” asked Bimal Bisi, president of Odisha Housing Board Land and House Owners Association (OHBLHOA). Today there are only six staff in the Rourkela office, which includes one assistant engineer Budheswar Oram two clerical staff and the rest sub-staff.
At present Odisha has over 40,000 housing board houses of which 25,000 are in Bhubaneswar. Here in Rourkela, there are three projects, all completed long back. The Basanti Colony project, which started in 1975, has 2,367 houses. The Chhend Phase-I-II-III- have1035, 832, and 972 houses, the total of which comes to 5,206 houses on 310 acres of land. All these four projects helped bring a turnaround in the housing board’s financial status. The office here was earlier a divisional one. “Next only to Bhubaneswar is Rourkela where so many houses have been constructed and the Birsa Munda project has been shelved.
However, project after project is coming up in Bhubaneswar,” said Bisi. He further questioned, “Is Rourkela the stepchild of the government or it is outside the state?” Rourkela has a heavy demand for houses. After the completion of the Chhend projects, in the early 1990s’ no new one has come up here. Officers come here on posting and go away within six months and during that period ‘they hardly attend office’ alleged Bisi. “Two big apartment complex projects got shelved due to lack of political will and bureaucratic meddling,” informed Bisi. “I had a couple of meetings with the chairman and general manager of the housing board, explaining the plight of the house owners and regarding new projects. They listened to me and promised the sky but nothing happened,” said Bisi.