BHUBANESWAR: After two years of planning, the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) has finally started work on acquiring land for expansion of drainage network in the State Capital.
The civic body which plans to acquire around seven acre land for the purpose at 11 different mouzas of Bhubaneswar in the first phase, has issued a public notice recently asking owners whose plots will be acquired to file objections, if any, within 15 days. The last date to file objections will be October 21 after which no applications will be entertained.
An official of the BMC land section said 83 plots would be acquired in the first phase to expand the major drains and connect the missing points of internal drains with major drainage channels 5, 8, 10. The areas where the plots will be acquired include Jagamara, Jharpada, Gadakana, Dumuduma, Jokalandi, Chandrasekharpur, Nayapalli, Pokhariput, Gadagopinath Prasad, Baramunda, and Laxmisagar.
The BMC has planned to spend `110 crore for the purpose. Sources said the cost of the plots to be acquired will be finalised as per their benchmark value which was decided at a meeting chaired by Khurda Collector a few months back.
After completion of the land acquisition in the first phase, the civic body will go for second phase acquisition in which 111 plots in different mouzas with a total area of five acre will be taken into possession for the drainage expansion work in the city.
Besides, the BMC has decided to expand drainage channels 7 and 10 on a priority basis to prevent waterlogging in New Forest Park and Bairagi Nagar areas.
It has decided to seek government permission for land acquisition in a 500-metre stretch in the New Forest Park area for expansion of the drainage channel 7 while a proposal will also be placed for land acquisition in Bairagi Nagar for widening of channel 10.