CMC expresses inability to preserve 66 water bodies
CUTTACK : The Cuttack Municipal Corporation (CMC) has expressed inability to undertake revival of 66 water bodies in the city which were identified by the Revenue department for preservation and maintenance a decade ago.
The Orissa High Court was hearing on Tuesday a PIL seeking intervention for conservation of these water bodies. Maitree Sansad, a city based socio-cultural organisation had filed the petition in 2019. CMC counsel Debashis Nayak pleaded before the court that the civic body will not be in a position to maintain or preserve the 66 water bodies till they are transferred to the CMC. There are technical difficulties as the water bodies are in control of the state government.
The issue was discussed a number of times and an MoU was signed on June 3, 2019. But nothing had followed till date, Nayak pleaded, while submitting an appraisal note on the issue. The court expressed concern as no one could say what effective steps have been taken over the past three years to resolve the issue.
Nayak made his submissions after Maitree Sansad’s counsel Ajay Mohanty alleged that very little has been done by CMC to restore the 66 water bodies in the city even as the Revenue department had drawn up a plan to develop and conserve them for community use in 2012.
The Housing and Urban Development department had sanctioned Rs 5 crore for the purpose. After hearing both sides the division bench of Chief Justice S Muralidhar and Justice MS Raman directed the state government to file an affidavit within four weeks listing out the concrete steps taken for preservation and revival of water bodies in the city. The bench posted the matter to January 19 for further consideration on the issue.