BHUBANESWAR: Minister for Housing and Urban Development Usha Devi on Wednesday stressed scaling up initiatives launched by the state government to transform urban Odisha.
Inaugurating a state level workshop-cum-orientation for elected representatives of ULBs here, the minister said the involvement and leadership of elected representatives will lead the state to success. She reiterated the vision of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and said decentralisation and community partnership are the two eyes of Odisha model for urban governance.
Director of municipal administration Sangramjit Nayak said the allocation of the H&UD department has increased to more than Rs 7,000 crore. He advised the city leaders to be more sympathetic to the cause of downtrodden, distressed, transgenders, urban poor, women and people in need.
Joint secretary and director of state urban development agency Sarada Prasad Panda also spoke. Chairman, vice-chairman and councillors of 12 ULBs from five districts - Cuttack, Dhenkanal, Jajpur, Jagatsinghpur and Kendrapara attended.