Berhampur city is entitled to be included in smart city mission

Cities are on race to be included in ‘smart city mission’ recently launched by the central government. There are tough criteria set in the mission scheme; a new competitive challenge method has been adopted to select cities to sure cooperative federalism. The strategic components are city improvement (retrofitting), city renewal (redevelopment) and city extension (greenfield development) plus a pan-city initiative in which smart solutions are applied covering larger parts of the city.

The scoring process remains hard like existing service levels, institutional systems and capacities, self financing and past track record and reforms. This ambitious project will use more ICT based tools like website, mobile technology and other technological intervention in improving civic services, engage citizens from planning, implementing to monitoring, and making smart solution of pressing city challenges. There is enough scope for the urban local governments and they are empowered to make legislation and execute (74th Constitutional Amendment Act) better service delivery without waiting a centrally sponsored scheme and there are ample examples among Indian cities like Mumbai, Ahmadabad, Delhi and Chandigarh has done significant achievement in these area. It is an opportunity for all urban local governments in Odisha to ensure the criteria of the smart city mission not only to just fulfil the eligibility but really deliver services in a smart way. 

Berhampur Municipal Corporation (BeMC) is struggling hard to be eligible for the scheme. It is difficult not only for BeMC but most of the cities in Odisha to reach the score in all most all criteria like the existing service level in basic citizen services set under smart city mission. In Berhampur most of the criteria are performing consistently poor like water it has shortage of 8MLD not able to metering the water supply, sanitation condition has been very poor it has not able to manage its 4589 TDP of waste generation every day and failed to set up the ‘solid waste management plant’. Only 6.3% of the households are connected with drains without sewage collection, transmission and treatment facility. Surprisingly only 39% of the households have access to toilets and open defecation is rampant (59.5%). 26270 households living in slums have poor housing and IHSDP (755DUs in last five years) and RAY unable to provide houses to the urban poor since 2010-11. Bad road conditions, poor traffic management and unreached transport system to all wards has clearly demonstrations mobility conditions in the city. 

The city governance mechanism has also poor performance like the e-governance, e-grievance has failed to deliver services. BeMC website has not updated since its inception and no compensatory penalty system exists at all. Citizens are not consulted in planning, designing, budget making and monitoring city development programmes. On the other hand the own resource generation has persistently declining since 2010 to 2015 which clearly indicates its dependency burden on central and state government. There is no budget transparency and people are not consulted for priorities. The past performance record are very deteriorating poor utilisation of centrally sponsored grants (IHSDP and UIDSSMT), inefficient service delivery and no use of electronic method. No functioning of ward committee to scope citizen participation. There are hardly any use of ICT for service delivery, lodge complaint and citizen feedback and e-news letter published overnight on the occasion of getting eligible.

But still there are strong justifications for Berhampur to be included in smart city mission scheme because Berhampur is oldest municipality in Odisha (constituted 1867), a commercial, educational, cultural and tourist hub of south Odisha, potential place for industrial corridor (can be connected to Vizag-Chennai Industrial corridor), huge coastal area, rich of agriculture and rural artisan and government should come up to mitigate regional imbalance since decades.

Hence it has the potentially entitled to get the status of ‘smart city’ to develop as a industrial and commercial hub of Odisha. A workshop has been organised by Youth for Social Development, a NGO working on issues of governance and citizen participation, jointly with CAC and other civil society organisations here at Hotel Radha in Berhampur to present the strength and opportunities of Berhampur to be included under smart city.

Link- http://microstatindia.com/…/2695-berhampur-city-is-entitled…

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Union Minister Nitin Gadkari declares Gopalpur-Digha road as national highway, Rs 5,000 crore to be spent

Union Minister Nitin Gadkari declares Gopalpur-Digha road as national highway, Rs 5,000 crore to be spent

Declaring the proposed coastal road from Goplapur in Odisha to Digha in West Bengal as National Highway, Union minister for shipping, road transport and highways, Nitin Gadkari today said, the detailed project report for the 500 km stretch will be ready in this year.

"About Rs 5,000 crore will be invested by the Centre for the project. I declare the 500 km road as National Highway," Gadkari said after inaugurating the NH-316 connecting Bhubaneswar and Puri.

The proposed road would help connect several upcoming ports in the state like Gopalpur, Astaranga, Paradeep, Kirtania and Chandipur. Since the state's coastline is susceptible to frequent cyclonic storms, a good coastal highway can aid in efficient rescue and relief operations in cyclone prone areas of the state, the chief minister had suggested.

Asian Development Bank to invest Rs 200 cr in the proposed state-of-the-art Skill Development Institute in Berhampur

Khallikote Cluster University (KCU) in Berhampur becomes a reality. Development of the new University must go beyond signboard

Berhampur rock garden to be modeled on the lines of the famous rock garden in Chandigarh!

Rourkela MLA Dilip Ray urged Railway Minister to extend the Rourkela-Bhubaneswar Rajyarani Express till Berhampur

With no direct train connectivity between Berhampur in Ganjam district and Rourkela in Sundargarh district, the commuters have to go all the way to Bhubaneswar to board the connecting trains to commute between the two cities.

Despite the fact that the two cities are among the largest and thickly populated urban areas in the State with strong socio-economic bondingamong the people, the connectivity between the two places remains poor. At present, two non-AC buses via Aska and one AC bus via Bhubaneswar are plying for those who can afford 14-16 hours of bone-breaking journey with odd departure timings.

In a reminder letter to Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu on June 6, Rourkela MLA Dilip Ray had urged the Ministry to extend the Rourkela-Bhubaneswar Rajyarani Express till Berhampur. Ray said the train reaches Bhubaneswar at 7.15 am and remains idle for about 16 hours before leaving the Capital City for Rourkela at 11.05 pm. There should not be any problem if the train travels another three hours to cover 166 kms from Bhubaneswar to Berhampur, he added. 

For the last few years, the demand has been raised by several organisations, but it has failed to evoke any response from the Railways.

Prakash Senapati, a native of Ganjam district and city-based businessman, said his aged mother has not visited their hometown Berhampur for the last seven years for lack of direct train.

General secretary of Rail Users' Association Amulya Baral said only one train runs as Rajyarani Express. The East Coast Railway should introduce another train by utilising the Palasa washing line for washing and maintenance, he added.

Baral said the Railway should also introduce a direct train with the name of Gajapati Express via Chakradharpur and Keonjhar to establish direct train link between Rourkela and Berhampur covering a maximum distance of 600 kms. He claimed that while laying double track between Jharsuguda and Sambalpur (48 kms) and Talcher and Cuttack (110 kms) has been completed, work is still underway between Sambalpur and Talcher (170 kms).

- Express News Service Published: 07th July 2015

Odisha Govt failed to identify required land for the airport in Berhampur

Minister of State for Civil Aviation informed the Rajya Sabha on 12-August-2014 that Government plans to develop 3 new airports in Odisha at Jharsuguda, Berhampur and Jeypore. The Minister stated that, "a team from Airports Authority of India inspected Jharsuguda, Berhampur and Jeypore airports and observed that the Jharsuguda (AAI airport) can be developed for operations of A-320 type of aircraftwhereas Berhampur (State Government airport) can be developed for ATR-72-500 for which additional 267 acres of land is required. Jeypore (State Government airport) can be developed for ATR-72-500 for which additional 253 acres of land is required". But, the Odisha Govt has failed to identify the required land for the airport in Berhampur and has gone in to complete silence on this issue.

For Berhampur people Sidhanta Mahapatra is not a hero ......................