Development takes a back seat in Dhenkanal Municipality

Dhenkanal: Development has taken a back seat in Dhenkanal Municipality due to confrontation between BJD and BJP in the civic body.  BJP leader Jayanti Patra, who is the chairperson of the municipality, has been facing many challenges since she was elected directly by the voters of Dhenkanal. There are 14 councillors from BJD and nine from BJP in the municipality. Resolutions in the municipal council meetings are not getting passed due to the BJD-BJP face-off thus holding up several development works.

Apart from regular cleaning and sweeping works in the town, no significant development works have been taken up in the last 10 months. Pond renovation and beautification works are yet to take off because of disagreement in every council meeting.  Lakhs of people were inconvenienced during the 11-day Laxmipuja last year as there was no toilet facility in the entire town. Though there was discussion in the municipal meeting for making arrangement forbio-toilet, this could not materialise.

The municipality has constructed a new auditorium by spending Rs 2.48 crore at Dhenkanal College Road and it was inaugurated by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik in November 2021. But the auditorium is yet to be opened for public. Transformer is yet to be installed in this much-awaited auditorium-cum-multi-purpose centre having 300-seat capacity. The municipality spends lakhs of rupees for beautification of VIP road by growing flower plants but they wither away due to lack of proper care. Almost all public toilets remain unusedas there is no water facility. Proposal for new Kalyan Mandap remains pending.

Municipality chairperson Jayanti Patra said BJD councillors are not cooperating in passing resolutions for development projects. "We met Dhenkanal BJD MLA Sudhir Kumar Samal in Bhubaneswar and discussed the problem with him but there has been no response from him even after 12 days," she said.  On the other hand, Samal has alleged high-handedness by the BJP councillors. "However, we are taking steps inthe interest of people by expediting development works," he said.  Municipality Executive Officer Tarun Kumar Mohapatra said lack of coordination has affected the implementation of development works. "Better coordination is required between BJD and BJP to carry forward the development works," he added.