Bhubaneswar, the Capital city of Odisha, steps into 75 Wednesday. The temple city has undergone tremendous growth in terms of infrastructure and population. And because of the constant expansion, the city needs major developments like state-of-the-art government facilities, private investments and also non-government initiatives.
At the same time, the urban agglomeration demands constant scrutiny into the long existing problems contemporaneous to the hindrances in its potent future. Orissa Post compiles five of such major issues concerning the Smart City’s best interest
Multi-Modal Railway Hub:
A whopping Rs 840 crore project, aimed to facelift the city’s railway station, is stuck in a limbo with no sign of the anticipated grand development. An MoU to this effect was signed between the East Coast Railways (ECoR) and Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA) in September 2019. It was planned to develop a state-of-the-art railway station spanning over 1.74 lakh sq ft coupled with city bus terminal, multi-level car parking and dedicated pick up and drop off lanes for cabs, auto-rickshaws and other vehicles.
However, owing to the pandemic and massive expenditure involved, the project has been delayed and will now require approval from the state Cabinet for its funding. While the deadline is December 2022, the project is unlikely to be finished within the stipulated time frame.
ISBT project Baramunda:
With buses being the lifeline to connect cities to the state capital, the Intra-State Bus Terminal (ISBT) at Baramunda was set for a facelift due to increasing transits and space crunch. Implemented by the BDA, the project planned to have a makeover of 15.5 acre of land at a cost of Rs 180 crore.
While delay in shifting of shops from OSRTC building and relocation of slum dwellers have become a roadblock, sources said that the project is unlikely to meet its deadline which is September 2022.
Urban flooding and open drains
One of the most discussed topics in the City has been urban flooding and loss of lives due to open drains. A recurring issue, the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) has received severe flak for its apparent failure to address the issue.
The BMC, which engaged three private agencies for garbage lifting, street sweeping, cleaning, and drainage desiltation had handed the work in 57 out of the 67 wards. While BMC managed 10 wards itself, it later proposed to engage a total of seven private agencies to expedite the process. However, stuck in an official rigmarole, tenders were not handed to private agencies. So the city has once more been left in the lurch with monsoons fast approaching.
Sanitation problems and Vector-borne diseases
Among top 100 cleanest cities in 2017, the city plummeted to rank 245 a year later in the ‘Swacch Survekshan’ Ranking. It has been a road downhill since then, owing to poor solid-waste management. As the city generates over 600-metric tonne waste daily, efficient disposal and recycling has become a humongous challenge for the BMC.
Moreover, the rise in vector-borne diseases especially in slums every year had also raised eyebrows over the competence of the civic body. Already bearing the brunt of Covid-19, the city last year saw more than 1,000 case of dengue, the most in a year.
However, the BMC has now doubled its budget to Rs 110 crore for sanitation and is focusing on waste management through Micro Composting Centres (MCCs), Material Recovery Facilities (MRFs) and Bio Mining centres. Having improved its ranking in 2021 to 144, the BMC aims to register itself in the top 10 cleanest cities of India.
E-mobility
The state capital is facing degradation in air quality and increasing congestions due to motor vehicles outnumbering population. Experts have suggested a robust development of public transport along with shift to electric vehicles.
City’s only public transport CRUT had earlier planned to introduce about 25 electric buses in Bhubaneswar in 2020. However, the pandemic and lack of adequate charging stations have led to the delay in project.
The BSCL has now planned to introduce as many as seven EV charging stations across city. As part of the phase-wise development, the capital will see 20 such stations under the Phase-II of the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of hybrid and Electric vehicle (FAME) India scheme.