Berhampur city should be brought under the JNNURM scheme

RP Tripathy

Greater Berhampur region (the area under Berhampur Development Authority + Hinjilicut) has a population of around 7 lakhs at present. Infact, the City Development Plan (http://www.urbanorissa.gov.in/) prepared by ASCI, Hyderabad and ToR for the Comprehensive Master Plan by TCPO of the Ministry of Urban Development take the base population of the city to be more than 5 lakhs as of 2001 and spread over a geographical area of more than 300 sq kms. But, the Census figures pertaining to the population of Berhampur city do not reflect the actual number as the settlements on the margins of the city and the nearby urban pockets are kept out of this estimate and their population numbers taken separately. This is neither helping the city and nor the peripheral settlements which remain fund starved with most of the futuristic infrastructure projects in limbo. As another Census approaches, it is still not clear if this anomaly will be corrected this time around and Greater Berhampur region will be treated as one single entity for the purpose of population census. From, the point of view of development this has got great significance. To under-estimate the number of people living in the city is just like scoring self goals and denying the city its rightful due in terms of developmental assistance. As most of the Central Schemes on Urban Development take the city population as one of the parameters in the devolution of developmental grants, correct population figures of the entire city region area becomes a necessity to avail the grants under various centrally sponsored schems. Population estimates of the greater Berhampur region will not only ensure its inclusion under JNNURM but will ensure the development of the only major urban growth centre in the southern region of the state.