Bhubaneswar: In view of the 18th Pravasi Bharatiya Diwas, which will be organised here from January 8 to 10, the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) has planned massive beautification and cleanliness efforts for a city-wide makeover.
The civic body has identified a 120-km-long stretch for landscaping, beautification, plantation, road development, laying paver blocks, installation of decorative lights and plants and for adorning walls of flyovers along the national highway, BMC officials said.
Bilash Behera, city engineer, said that through a comprehensive plan, the stretch will be transformed into aesthetically pleasing hangout places. "We completed the survey and identified the roads. All the makeover work will be over by December-end," he added.
The project aims to enhance the aesthetic appeal and functionality of the area, providing a more pleasant experience for commuters, diaspora guests, other visitors, travellers and residents. "The govt is committed to ensuring that the development is carried out efficiently and sustainably, with a focus on environmental conservation and community involvement. Already, the city's major arteries underwent a massive transformation in terms of their look in the past year. The city authorities removed all paan shops to ensure there is no eyesore along major roads," a govt officer from the housing and urban development department said.
The vacant and unused places along the arteries have been beautified under the place-making project, which not only aims at reducing air pollution but also creating hangout and recreation spaces for people. "To suppress dust, more paver blocks will be laid on spaces that were reclaimed by removing encroachment. A drive to plant exotic and shade-bearing trees will be taken up along the identified stretches," he added.
The BMC will undertake work such as the removal of sticking papers on walls, unnecessary weeds from the walls of flyovers, sweeping the dry leaves that gather under trees, repairing streetlights, and removing banners and posters, and so on.
The civic body has prepared a plan to undertake intensive cleaning. This also includes the upkeep of footpaths. For cleaning purposes, it has identified garbage vulnerable points to guide the sweepers to go there and clean them. The BMC is also reviewing the footpath condition to repair them and make them look better.