JNNURM projects to be completed before N'kalebar

The State Government on Friday assured the State Assembly that all JNNURM projects underway in Puri would be completed well before the upcoming Nabakalebar festival to be held in July 2015.

“All steps have been taken to expedite ongoing JNNURM projects, which will help smooth conduct of the upcoming Nabakalebar Festival, in order to complete them by May,” Steel and Mines Minister Prafulla Kumar Mallick said on behalf of Housing and Urban Development Minister Puspendra Singhdeo while replying to questions by Amar Prasad Satpathy and others in the Assembly.

A total of nine projects under the Urban Infrastructure and Governance (UIG), one of the two JNNURM Sub-Missions, had been taken up in both Bhubaneswar and Puri. While the projects were to be completed by March 31, 2014, two projects, Bindusagar lake Conservation in Bhubaneswar and City Bus Service (in both Bhubaneswar and Puri), have been completed. Other projects, Storm Water Drainage, Integrated Sewerage System (in both the cities), National Mission Mode Project, Bhubaneswar and National Mission Mode, Puri are yet to be completed, the Minister informed.

Stating that the Centre is yet to release all sanctioned amounts for these project, Mallick said the State Government is spending its own fund to complete all the projects by May keeping their importance for the festival. He lamented that the Centre was yet to announce a special package for the festival.

He informed that around 60 per cent to 70 per cent of works have so far been completed.