Orissa High Court seeks explanation on delay of JICA project in Bhubaneswar

The Bench took judicial note of the hardships posed due to the unending digging up of roads as part of the project work and accompanying traffic problems.
Orissa High Court (File Photo |EPS)
Orissa High Court (File Photo |EPS)

CUTTACK: The Orissa High Court on Monday issued notices to the authorities concerned over the ongoing JICA-funded integrated sanitation project undertaken by the Odisha Water Supply and Sewerage Board (OWSSB) in the city.

The division bench of Acting Chief Justice Sanju Panda and Justice SK Sahoo issued the notices after suo motu registering a PIL on the prolonged problems faced by the residents due to inordinate delay in completion of the project. 

The Bench took judicial note of the hardships posed due to the unending digging up of roads as part of the project work and accompanying traffic problems. Notices were issued to the Secretary of Works department, Commissioner of Cuttack Municipal Corporation (CMC) and OWSSB authorities to file their responses by February 3, the date fixed for hearing on the case.

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik laid the foundation stone of the project in October 2012 with July 2016 as deadline for its completion. But the project work is far from completion. The JICA project envisages a sewage system with an underground gravity sewer line of 385 km. So far, roads have been dug up for completion of 292 km of sewerage line. 

The problems were first brought to the notice of Orissa Human Rights Commission (OHRC) by Jayanti Das, a city-based social activist in October last year. Acting on it, the OHRC had directed for formation of a four-member committee headed by the CMC Commissioner to monitor the JICA project. 

The rights panel also felt that there was lack of coordination between different departments of the Government and JICA project officials.The committee has a representative of the Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), Cuttack, Assistant Commissioner of Police (Traffic), Cuttack and Planning Member of CDA as the three other members.

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