BHUBANESWAR: Amid complaints over poor maintenance of parks in residential areas, the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) has planned to rope in large commercial/business units, private industries and realtors for their management in the city.
Sources said a decision to this effect was recently taken by the civic body and the matter was also discussed during the corporation meeting for implementation.
As per the plan, BMC will ask realtors, hoteliers, leading jewellers and large business and commercial units to manage the parks in different residential areas of the city as part of their corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities, said an official of the civic body.
“The corporation is working out a standard operating procedure (SOP) and modalities for implementation of the move and decide the number of parks to be included in the initiative. Once drafted, it will be placed in the environment standing committee and corporation meeting to obtain necessary clearance,” the official said.
Accordingly, the ongoing agreement with different residential welfare associations (RWAs) and self-help groups (SHGs) involved in management of neighbourhood parks has been extended till this year-end.
Currently, the civic body pays a maintenance fee to the managing agencies - primarily the RWAs and SHGs - towards management of the community parks. However, with establishment of more number parks in the city, the budget towards their maintenance has also grown significantly over the years, BMC sources said.
The total number of community managed and neighbourhood parks has increased from 70 to over 150 in the recent years and the civic body now has 151 parks under its control. This has also increased the budget load on the corporation by nearly three times in the recent years as for repair and maintenance of parks, nurseries and gardens, the civic body allocated around Rs 4 crore in the last fiscal (2024-25), compared to Rs 1.28 crore in 2022-23.
“We are hopeful of getting support from the real-estate firms as well as large business units in this regard to ensure effective maintenance of the local parks,” said an official from the BMC environment wing.