SOSA demands early merger of 26 villages for development of BMC

It alleges that the government has neglected the interests of Berhampur

The South Orissa Students' Association (SOSA) demanded the State government for early merger of 26 villages on the periphery of Berhampur Municipal Corporation (BMC) for the development of the city. It may be noted that Berhampur, the oldest municipality of the State was elevated to a Municipal Corporation in December 2008. As per the gazette notification made for the purpose the boundary of the new Municipal Corporation was to include 26 villages of 14 panchayats. But till now these villages have not become part of the BMC.

Even during the process of census this year population of these villages was excluded from the population figures of Berhampur city. Recently, notification has been issued regarding reservation of seats for coming panchayat polls in 2012. These 14 panchayats which are proposed to be part of the BMC are also in the list, which indicates that till now no steps have been initiated for their merger with the BMC. They still are part of different revenue blocks around the city. “This seems to be a well thought out conspiracy of some vested interest to keep the city of Berhampur truncated so that it remains perennially backward and loses out on important government schemes like JNNURM which take population size of the cities as one of the parameter”, said president of SOSA, R.P.Tripathy.

Mr. Tripathy said as per Section-6 of Orissa Municipal Corporation Act, 2003, a Municipal Corporation needs to have at least 39 wards under it. But this policy is not applicable for Berhampur which now has only 37 wards in its limits.

The SOSA alleged that till now the State government seems to have neglected the interests of Berhampur as a result of which the city bus service, proper sewerage system, ring road or even a comprehensive development plan eludes this city. “It is an irony that the State government is neglecting future of cities like Berhampur while other states like Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra are trying to merge more and more villages on the suburb of their cities to come up with ideas of Greater Mumbai, Greater Hyderabad, Greater Visakhapatnam etc to ensure their eligibility for major central plans and future development”, SOSA members said. They pointed out that when the Cuttack and Bhubaneswar urban bodies were elevated to Municipal Corporations, more than 60 panchayats were merged with these urban bodies. But in case of Berhampur similar action is being delayed. They also added that the BMC is functioning with the same set of officials who worked under the erstwhile Municipal council and even the former executive officer of Berhampur Municipality is continuing as the new Municipal Commissioner which according to them puts doubts on intention of the State government to revitalise the urban body of Berhampur.

The SOSA has written to the Chief Minister of Orissa to merge 26 villages on the periphery of Berhampur as early as possible to give the BMC the complete area as notified through gazette notification and take up much needed developmental projects within city limits.

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•Berhampur municipality was elevated to Municipal Corporation in December 2008

•During the process of census the population of these villages was excluded from Berhampur city
Source: The Hindu