With eye on civic polls, Odisha move to woo urban poor

BHUBANESWAR: With the passage of the Odisha Municipal Laws (amendment) Bill, 2020, in the assembly recently, the state government wants to garner the support of the urban voters, especially slum dwellers, ahead of the urban elections. The election to the 114 urban local bodies (ULBs) in Odisha are due for the past two years as these civic bodies are now being headed by state government-appointed administrators.
“The amendment bill that now awaits the assent of governor Ganeshi Lal is aimed at achieving three important objectives — to enhance the living standards of slum dwellers through dedicated allocation of capital expenditure, encourage trade and businesses by easing the processes of issuance of licences and to delete some of the archaic provisions in the municipal laws, which now have become redundant,” state housing and urban development minister Pratap Jena said after the passage of the bill.
With chief minister Naveen Patnaik having recently announced that slums across the state will be converted into adarsh colonies (model colonies) with basic amenities, the bill has a provision for utilization of not less than 25 per cent of the annual capital expenditure related to development works in the ULBs for basic services and infrastructure in slum areas.
Jena said the development of the slums has been one of the key priorities of the state, while adding that the funds will be utilized for ensuring basic amenities in the slums like improvement in electricity supply, strengthening of the potable water supply system, improvement of the road condition and establishment of community centres.
Odisha has over 3.5 lakh slum households with a population of around 16 lakh.
The bill also has provisions to simplify the process involved in issuing trade licence in urban areas in sync with the government’s 5T model of governance.

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