The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Urban Development headed by Jagadambika Pal, of which Bhubaneswar MP Aparajita Sarangi is a member, discussed major problems and bottlenecks of urban governance in the State on Saturday.
Issues relating to progress in the Smart City Mission, drainage problems in Bhubaneswar, performance in Swachh Bharat Mission in 114 ULBs and the progress of PMAY (Urban) were discussed.
The committee members visited some sites here on Friday and conducted a review meeting at Puri on the second day on Saturday. The committee made some recommendations to the Government.
While Sarangi said there is not master plan for Bhubaneswar for combating the drainage problem and proposed for a comprehensive plan for linking 10 natural drains with the Gangua river, Chairman Pal directed the State Government to prepare a master plan as early as possible.
The committee appreciated the Micro Composting Centres being done but expressed concern over the poor sanitary conditions in Bhubaneswar and other ULBs. In Swachh Bharat, Odisha is the third worst performer, Bihar and Jammu & Kashmir being below it. Only two of the 114 ULBs are open defecation-free. While 40 per cent of the population in Bhubaneswar lives in slums, 80 per cent of the slum households resort to open defecation. The State Government needs to work on it very seriously, said the team.
The panel observed that the progress under the PMAY( Urban) is very tardy. Currently, there is a demand of 5.02 lakh dwelling units in the State, of which Bhubaneswar may require 1 lakh. Only 1.15 dwelling units have been sanctioned so far and only around 68,000 had been grounded. The committee asked the State Government to expedite the work in this regard. All these recommendations would be submitted to the Parliament, said Pal.