BHUBANESWAR: In a first, the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) has embarked upon documenting all the water bodies in Bhubaneswar and, so far, found 44 ponds of various sizes located across wards of the capital city. The exercise is aimed at creating a database for future reference and more importantly, help protection of water bodies against encroachment and support effective conservation.
The corporation has specified the water bodies ward-wise while specifying the revenue village khata and plot numbers, kissam as well as land title of each pond in the dossier. BMC has shared details of these water bodies, including their area and ownership, on the public disclosure section of its website. As per BMC’s documentation, 38 out of 44 water bodies in its jurisdiction are on government land, while remaining six are on private lands and not managed either by the government or BMC.
“The main purpose of drawing up a list of these water bodies and put them up on public domain is to raise awareness among people to ensure that these public and community assets remain well protected,” official sources said. The dossier will help prevent encroachment of such water bodies by unscrupulous elements and any such attempts can even be flagged by local residents since these water bodies are identified.
However, the list prepared is provisional. Citizens can submit their feedback and suggestions to include any other pond or water body in BMC jurisdiction missing from the list, said a senior official from the BMC. A number of water bodies having heritage value are being documented and will be added too.
Maa Mangala temple tank in Chandrasekharpur and Project Pond at Greater Lumbini Vihar are the two major community ponds spread over 168.445 decimal each. The remaining ponds are less than 10 decimal in size.
Bhubaneswar which boasted of a number natural water bodies has lost quite a few to rampant development and encroachment while lack of care and maintenance has resulted in drying up of the ponds.
Nayapalli Haza, earlier spread over seven acres of land and capable of holding rainwater of the entire Nayapalli catchment, has now been reduced to less than one acre due to encroachment from almost all sides. This apart, siltation has also led to shrinking of the water body.