Keeping in view of the population growth and demand of houses, a proposal for a satellite township over an area of 108 acres of land at Chhend Colony was taken up by the Rourkela Development Authority (RDA) in its meeting chaired by its vice chairman and Collector Sundargarh in 2010.
Accordingly, a single patch of land was identified near Biju Patnaik University of Technology (BPUT). It was decided that besides residential houses the township will have a shopping mall, swimming pool, park, stadium, hospital, multiplex, educational institution with wide road and the entire zone connected with wi-fi.
But till now not a single step has been taken on the project. Rather, both the RDA and the Revenue department take excuse by shifting the responsibility on each other, though the district revenue authority Collector, Sundargarh is the RDA Vice Chairman and Rourkela ADM is the RDA Secretary.
While RDA blames the Revenue department for not handing over the land, the Revenue department alleges that since the RDA has not submitted the master plan of the project, the land handover process was getting delayed.
An RDA official said the master plan was submitted to the Revenue department long back and another extended plan will be submitted soon. But interestingly out of the 108 acres of demarcated land for the project, about 36 acres of land is under illegal occupation so far.
An RDA official said under the present ADM-cum-RDA Secretary some remarkable development is expected as he is a young IAS officer and serious about the implementation of decisions very fast. Now the lapses in coordination between the RDA and the Revenue department can be overcome amicably, he hoped.
It may be mentioned here since last many years no new housing projects were taken up by the RDA or by the Housing Board in Rourkela.