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Without reading the caption, try to guess where this picturesque setting is? It is not in Koraput, Similipal or Satkosia!

It is in Deras, Chandaka.

The Orissa government has already involved itself in preparing the master plan for greater Bhubaneswar area. Now there is news regarding its intention to make master plans for 8 more areas. These areas are: Puri-Konark, Rourkela, Sambalpur, Berhampur, Kalinganagar, Paradeep, Jharsuguda, and Talcher-Angul. The govt. is missing a few other areas which it should take up soon. Those are: Baripada, Balasore, Dahamara, Rayagada-Therubali and Koraput-Jeypore. Following are excerpts from a report in Statesman on Orissa govt.’s recent thoughts on this.

In a bid to give major facelift to the upcoming urban areas of the state and for their integrated development, the government will prepare a master plan, within one and half years. The localities include Rourkela, Sambalpur, Berhampur, Puri-Konark, Talcher-Angul, Paradip, Kalinga Nagar and Jharsuguda. … Mr Patnaik underscored the need of adequately trained personnel to successfully handle the technical problems of under-ground sewerage and solid waste management,…. He also stressed on better sanitation, drinking water, housing and slum development. It may be mentioned here that while Rs 950 crore from the funds of JBIC has been sanctioned for sewerage of Cuttack; the capital city has been allotted Rs 499 crore for the same under Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission. Rs 88 crore has been sanctioned for drinking water in Cuttack, Berhampur and Sambalpur. Rs 3.65 crore has also been allotted for slum development in Bhubaneswar.

Telegraph also writes about this.

If this is true then it is great news. Following is an excerpt on this from Pioneer.

Cuttack has been included in the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission, and a notification to this effect would be published soon by the Central Government, said Leader of the Opposition in the State Assembly, JB Patnaik on Thursday.

Initially, the scheme included Bhubaneswar and Puri among a total 63 cities across the country for their overall development, and the Prime Minister had been requested to include Cuttack in the list, which has been acceded to, said Patnaik.

Sources said that Cuttack would get Rs 2,000 crore for its development under the scheme out of which the Central Government would bear 80 per cent whereas the State Government and the Cuttack Municipal Corporation would meet the remaining 10 per cent each.

Following is an excerpt from a report in Telegraph.

Bhubaneswar-Cuttack and neighbouring towns will be developed into a greater urban complex of international standards catering to the needs of 42 lakh people by 2030.

The final perspective plan to this effect was presented to chief minister Naveen Patnaik here today by a team from IIT, Kharagpur. B.K. Sengupta, heading the team, said the comprehensive development plan for Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Choudwar, Khurda and Jatni would be ready by August 2008.

Subsequently, development plans would be prepared for places like Rourkela, Puri, Sambalpur, Berhampur, Talcher-Angul, Kalinga Nagar and Jharsuguda industrial complex, said state urban development minister K.V. Singhdeo.

The final perspective plan has envisaged comprehensive development of a greater urban complex comprising twin cities of Bhubaneswar-Cuttack and three adjoining towns spread over 721sqkm at an estimated cost of Rs 34,000 crore.

The required funds would be mobilised through public-private partnership, central government and state government and community contribution, said the urban development minister.

While 11 special zones have been earmarked for extensive development, four have been identified for intensive development and three places (Old Bhubaneswar, Choudwar and Old Cuttack) having heritage value have been set aside for restricted development. Seven sensitive pockets have also been identified.

A patch of farmland on the east of the Kuakhai flowing near Bhubaneswar has also been earmarked for agriculture. The final perspective plan has dwelt on various aspects like transport, traffic decongestion, upgrade of road system, slum development and drainage. Construction of overhead bridges and bypass and the upgrade of road systems have also been planned.

Drainage and sewerage development has also been planned in the twin cities.

A solid waste management plant has been proposed in Bhubaneswar. Bhubaneswar-Cuttack would be made slum-free. The shanties would be removed and the dwellers would be resettled in planned rehabilitation colonies to be built by private builders on the Dharavi model in Mumbai.

The following is an excerpt from a report in domain-b.com.

The CRISIL Awards for Excellence in Municipal Initiatives were recently presented by S Jaipal Reddy, minister for urban development, at the national conference on Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) at DRDO Bhavan, in New Delhi.

Of the 35 cities that participated in the evaluation, nine were awarded across four categories viz. mega cities, million plus cities, other JNNURM cities, and states.

The winners in each of the categories were the municipalities of Chennai, Vishakapatnam, Ajmer, and State of Orissa respectively. …

When the centre launched JNNURM in December 2005, it recognised that mere funding of infrastructure projects would not transform cities. A strong focus on reforms, both at the urban local body (ULB) level and at the state level are essential for a city’s sustainable long-term growth.

Hemant Joshi, managing director & CEO, CRISIL risk and infrastructure solutions, explained, “CRISIL recognises the significance of this combination of funding & reforms, and its potential to create vibrant, eminently liveable, people-friendly cities. The Awards were launched by CRISIL in partnership with Ministry of Urban Development and this year’s theme was ‘Commitment to Reforms under JNNURM'”.

Bhubaneswar has recorded an appreciable increase in income tax collections. Economic times reports that personal income tax increased by 30% this year. Excerpts:

” A similar trend was seen in Bhubaneshwar. While the corporate tax collections from this zone declined by 11.43% to Rs 584 crore, personal income tax collections grew by 29.62%.”

It must be added that corporate tax collection decreased by 11.5%. Something to analyze.

The following is from a PIB release.

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs today gave its approval for the following:

(i)         Peripheral towns of Panchkula and SAS Nagar (Mohali) urban agglomeration will be included in the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) city of Chandigarh as these towns are entirely in continuum to Chandigarh and in fact, are spill over of the growth of Chandigarh.

(ii)                 Naya Raipur, a satellite city, will be included in the urban agglomeration of Chhatisgarh State Capital, Raipur, so that simultaneous cohesive development of Naya Raipur, alongwith existing city of Raipur, is possible.  Presently, total area of Naya Raipur comprises 41 villages.

            With the inclusion of the above two in JNNURM, the following benefits will be reaped:

(i)                  Infrastructure development of both Panchkula and Mohali, that are spillovers of Chandigarh would be possible through JNNURM funds along with JNNURM City of Chandigarh.

(ii)                 Maya Raipur, a satellite city of Raipur, will also have access to JNNURM funds for its infrastructure development.

            JNNURM was launched by the government of India in December, 2005 to implement reforms driven planned development of identified cities in a Mission mode, with focus on efficiency in urban infrastructure / service delivery mechanism and basic services to the urban poor with community participation and accountability of Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) / Parastatals towards the citizens.

Why is not the Orissa government making a similar case for Cuttack to be included in the Bhubaneswar JNNURM project?

While the centrally funded JNNURM program will take care of most of the sewerage system in Bhubaneswar, the same for Cuttack needs to be done through other resources. Following are excerpts from a report in Pioneer elaborating on where the money for Cuttack will come from.

The State Government will invest Rs 945.17 crore for the restoration of drainage and improvement of sewerage system in the twin cities of Cuttack and Bhubaneswar.

Talking to reporters, Urban Development Minister KV Singh Deo said Rs 757.44 crore would be invested for the improvement of the sewerage system and renovation of drainage in Cuttack City alone.

Out of this, Japan’s JBIC Bank will give a loan assistance of Rs 624.65 crore and the rest money amounting to Rs 132.79 crore would be given by the State Government.

The loan amount would be repaid in 40 years time at a rate of 0.75 percentage. The moratorium period would be of 10 years.

The project will be implemented between 2007 and 2012. To this effect, the Government of India and Japan had signed a MoU on March 3, 2007. “The money would be released soon,” said Singh Deo.

He further said that draft request for the proposal for project management consultancy service has been prepared and furnished to JBIC and compliance to the comments of the JBIC is under process.

Under the plan, 231 km under ground pipeline will be laid and 10 pump stations will be installed.

Following is from a PIB release.

A project titled ‘Integrated Sewerage Project’ has been approved for Bhubaneshwar under Sewerage sector by Central Sanctioning and Monitoring Committee in its meeting held on 22.2.07 at an approved cost of Rs.49891.35 lakh. Central share committed for this project is Rs.39913.08 lakh (being 80%). Out of this, a sum of Rs.5158.40 lakh has been released towards first instalment on 24.04.07. The implementation period of this project is 48 months.

A project titled ‘Conservation of the Heritage Tank of Bindusagar’ has also been approved for Bhubaneshwar under ‘Urban Renewal Sector’ by Central Sanctioning and Monitoring Committee in its meeting held on 9.02.07 at an approved cost of Rs.601.31 lakh. Central share committed for this project is Rs.481.04 lakh (being 80%). Out of this, a sum of Rs.120.26 lakh has been released towards first instalment on 7.3.07. The implementation period of this project of this project is 24 months.

These are not entirely centrally funded projects and only 80 percent of the approved cost is provided as Additional Central Assistance as central share.

This information was given by Shri Ajay Maken, Minister of State in the Ministry of Urban Development in the Rajya Sabha today in a written reply to a question by Shri B.J.Panda and Ms. Pramila Bohidar.

Following is Dharitri’s article on this.

This is part of Bhubaneswar’s proposal for JNNURM. Following is Samaja’s report on it.

Pioneer reports on this grant to Puri under JNNRUM. (Additional site 1, site 2, site 3) Following are some excerpts from that report.

… sanctions were accorded to 10 new development projects in Puri under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission entailing an estimated expenditure of Rs 186 crore. … The project includes construction of a new lodging house for tourists at a cost of Rs 20 crore, a renovation project for old mutts costing Rs 100 crore, construction of a new multistoreyed parking place for vehicles worth Rs10 crore, a new conference hall specially for holy discourses valuing Rs10 crore, a cultural heritage site for the Jagannath Temple pegged at Rs10 crore, renovation and maintenance of old ponds in Puri for Rs 20 crore, establishment of a new heritage museum inside SriMandir at a cost of Rs 5 crore, construction of a heritage garden inside Sri Jagannath Ballava Math at a cost of Rs10 crore, construction of concrete road around the Meghanad Prachir (compound wall) with steel barricades costing Rs 50 lakh and construction of drains and other sanitary works valuing Rs 50 lakh in Puri town.

New Indian Express reports on the water supply situation in Bhubaneswar. Following are some excerpts.

For a population of 8 lakh, the Capital city has just 52,000 connections each catering to a family of five to six persons. …

Not only does coverage need keep pace with expansion, there is an increasing necessity to modernise the entire system. Realising the need, both Public Health Engineering Department (PHED) and Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) are busy chalking out a plan.

The proposal is to be placed for consideration under Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (NURM).

Currently, Bhubaneswar meets its demand mostly from Kuakhai river, while the infrastructure for water treatment and distribution have come up in different phases. Mahanadi too contributes substantially for the city’s requirements.

As of now, the existing supply system fully covers 17 wards (out of 47) with pipe-water supply while another 26 wards are partially covered. The rest are without any cover.

A study carried out on the system reveals that supply is intermittent, while pipelines have shrunk. The total length of pipelines – main and distribution – are about 900 km in length.

However, since most of these were laid in 1950s and 1960s, they throw up problems. While density of population has increased, the same has rendered existing supply lines inadequate.

This also explains why water distribution has not been uniform – quantity as well as pressure wise. Moreover, main transmission lines are now old and lead contamination with sewerage lines which has become a cause of concern.

Similarly, intake infrastructure, water treatment plants and pump houses are now old and need renovation. The city has seven water treatment plants built during the last four decades.

Statistics available with PHED says seven treatment plants were built in 1954, 1960, 1968, 1974, 1975, 1987 and 1996 which speaks volumes about the need to upgrade and replace them.

Of the seven plants, four are for Kuakhai with total capacity of 19.5 million gallons for day (MGD), while the two for Daya can treat 3 MGD water.

It is the Mundali Water Works which has the biggest capacity of MGD. It was built in 1996.

Another problem with the locations and capacities of storage reservoirs. In the city, there are 87 underground and over ground reservoirs while there are another 46 elevated service tanks.

The headache for these storage points is that they are not integrated.

The proposed modernisation plan will take into account the revenue model as user charges are not fixed as per consumption level.