For A Smart Bhubaneswar, Slums To Get A Facelift

Bhubaneswar, the capital city of Odisha, figures in the top 20 cities that have been selected in the first phase for funding by the Central government for the financial year 2015-16. However, the city may face a major roadblock in the form of its many slums.

Data show that the Bhubaneswar Town Center District has an area of 985 acres which has around 26 slum zones.

To tackle this problem, the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) has started validation camps to identify genuine slum dwellers, so that they can be provided with concrete houses. Tenements will be coming up in at least four major slum redevelopment projects, which will offer subsidised homes to middle-and high-income groups.

These slums will get a major make over by the BMC under the Smart City mission in a phased manner. In the first phase, eight slum zones have been identified. The BMC has selected the stretch between Bapuji Nagar to Shaheed Nagar, owing to the fact that the said area is densely populated. Redevelopment will change the whole face of the area; hence the development of the slums would be top priority, according to the BMC authorities.