BHUBANESWAR: If you want to see Bhubaneswar in all its splendour, this is the best time. It’s spruced clean, polished, painted bright, illuminated and glowing through the winter evenings. The capital has appeared in a fresh avatar to extend a warm welcome to fans and tourists for the quadrennial event, commencing Friday. From new facades and urban horticulture to wall art and illuminated flyovers, the city is extensively decorated for the greatest show of hockey.
Both Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA) and Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) have carried out landscaping and streetscaping at nearly 30 spaces that otherwise were unused and encroached. These spaces along major roads and junctions in the city have now sitting areas with decorative sheds, landscaped strips and places of recreation for citizens, especially youngsters. Unused spaces under flyovers, medians, junctions and roadsides have also been decorated with attractive ornamental plants to enhance the beauty of the city.
Turfing and creeper plantations along Capital Hospital Square to AG square, Governor House to Jayadev Vihar, Janata Maidan area, Damana and plantations across all major flyovers, junctions and 11.2 km stretches of median spaces have given the city a new look. The Odisha Forest Development Corporation carried out the plantation at an investment of Rs 7 crore.
Plantations apart, sculptures of various themes dot the heart of the city. Pillars of the NH flyover in all major junctions speak with murals highlighting the city’s food, culture, sports, heritage and modernity. The murals at Rasulgarh Square have been curated in a way that showcases the junction as a confluence point of three cities - Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, and Puri.
Similarly, the murals are based on a sports theme at Jayadev Vihar, a zodiac theme at CRP square, a disaster management theme at Fire station square and a heritage theme at Khandagiri. The mural works under Street Art and Murals Project (STAMP) has been taken up over nearly 3 lakh sq ft area at an investment of around Rs 3 crore. The Lalit Kala Academy and artists of national and international repute have been roped in for this purpose. Balwant Singh, vice chairman of BDA, the coordinating agency for city beautification, said the idea is to give visitors an experience completely different from what was offered in 2018.
Accordingly, equal focus has been given to proper lighting, road development, sanitation, clear skyline, vending discipline, parking management, traffic-related infrastructures, face-lift of roads, cleanliness at the railway stations, and social dignity of homeless and beggars among others.
“Effort is to ensure every agency works in tandem to give visitors the best experience during their stay in the capital,” Singh said. Municipal Commissioner Vijay Amruta Kulange said, apart from giving a facelift, BMC is focused on the cleanliness of the city to add aesthetic value to the beautification work.