Parliamentarians from Odisha have urged Union Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Singh Puri for improvement of the stormwater drainage systems in urban areas of the State under the AMRUT programme.
Accompanied by Dhenkanal Lok Sabha member Mahesh Sahoo and Rajya Sabha member Mamata Mohanta, Rajya Sabha member Subash Chandra Singh met the Union Minister and submitted a letter requesting him for approval of the projects.
“The Centre has launched the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) with an aim of providing basic civic amenities like water supply, sewerage, urban transport, parks, etc., in urban areas.
The Odisha Government, as per Service Level Improvement Plan (SLIP) under AMRUT, had submitted a project with a cost of Rs 3,700 crore for the development of stormwater drainage systems in AMRUT cities. However, after repeated requests, the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs has not approved the projects over past years,” the letter stated.
A large number of drainage systems in many urban areas of Odisha have collapsed, resulting in waterlogging in major towns such as Bhubaneswar, Sambalpur, Brahmapur, Puri and Cuttack, Subash Singh said, adding that the drainage systems are in poor conditions in these urban areas due to environmental decline and unauthorised constructions. Since the project for developing proper stormwater drainage systems in urban zones costs more, the State Government needs more funds from the Centre, Singh said and requested the Union Minister to grant approval for pending projects under AMRUT for improvement and modernisation of stormwater drainage systems.