The Juniper Research survey report which has placed Bhubaneswar in the 20 best performing smart cities in the world has revealed a few grim realities too. It has observed that the air quality of the city is worst and unhealthy.
The city is weak in two other important aspects like preventive healthcare and production. Expansion of concrete jungle, decrease in the number trees and rising number of vehicles affect the city environment immensely. The waste treatment plant is yet to become functional. Regular production of huge quantity of garbage in the city and its disposal has become a headache.
People live in very unhygienic and unhealthy environment near the present dumpyard in Dharuthenga. Couple of flyovers, wide roads, lED street lights and wall paintings may have enhanced the aesthetic looks of the city but people who have struggled with the basic civic amenities may feel surprised with the city’s top rankings.
During monsoon, people of some prime locations suffer a lot due to waterlogging due to choking of the natural drainage channels. Along with the growth of the city there is parallel expansion of the slums and slum dwellers population.
A recent report on slum profile mentions that Bhubaneswar city has more than 400 authorised and unauthorised slums with an approximate population of 3.5 lakh. This is 35 per cent of the total city population. More than 80 per cent of the slum dwellers practice open defecation. This is due to inadequate public provisions.
Scarcity and contamination of safe drinking water leads to dreaded diseases like jaundice in most of the slum areas. Hundred of old and matured banyan like trees have been replaced with fabaceae flower plants. The blooming Krushnachuda (Gulmarg) and Sunari (Golden Shower) trees on both sides of the roads have vanished.
Couple of years back, the death of a nine-year-old boy Papuni in Nayapalli area, who died after falling in an open drain put a question mark on the BMC’s efficiency.
Despite such civic problems, grabbing a prestigious position in the international index is certainly an achievement for the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC), particularly the Public Relations wing. Coordinating and fixing up a self-ponsored place in the list was in fact a challenge for the entire PR unit of BMC. However, they did it smartly.