Bhubaneswar: Smt Usha Devi, Minister of Housing & Urban Development inaugurated a State Level Workshop-cum-Orientation for elected Representatives of ULBs held here in Convention Centre Auditorium, Lok Seva Bhawan today. The Chairman, Vice Chairman and Councilors of 12 ULBs from 5 districts, Cuttack, Dhenkanal, Jajpur, Jagatsinghpur and Kendrapara attended.
On the occasion, she told that together we can scale up our Initiatives and contribute to transforming Urban Odisha. You all are people’s representatives and all our programmes are people-centric. Hence, your involvement and leadership with lead us to success. You all Elected Members assembled here today on this auspicious occasion are “City Leaders”. You are our eyes and ears from whom we get updates and feedback on various key Urban Initiatives.
She reiterated the vision of the Hon’ble Chief Minister that “Decentralization and Community Partnership are the two eyes of Odisha Model for Urban Governance”. Urban Odisha through this transformative approach under the 5T Governance Mantra has now touched new heights. The very objective of today’s workshop is to orient you on various modalities of Community Partnership strategies that are currently in operation across the state. Together we can scale up our Initiatives and contribute to transforming Urban Odisha, She told.
Sangramjit Nayak, Director of Municipal Administration in his address attached more importance to transparency in the work done in the urban space. He highlighted how Housing and Urban Development has evolved into a vibrant fast functioning department with a whole range of activities that cover mostly all aspects of urban life. It is quite heartening to add here that the allocation of the H & UD Department has increased over the years to more than 7100 crores today, he added. He advised the city leaders to be more sympathetic to the cause of downtrodden, distressed, transgenders, urban poor, women and people in need and work in collaborative partnership with MSG &SDA
Sarada Prasad Panda, Joint Secretary and Director, SUDA, in his welcome address, talked about handholding support to everyone for their journey in Transforming Urban Odisha. He also emphasized effective Community partnership and strengthening the Mission Shakti SHGs and Slum Dweller Associations. We have launched this largest Capacity Building drive for all elected representatives to sensitize them on People’s Participation in Public Service and keep them updated on our latest interventions, Mr Panda informed.
During the day-long workshop Sanjay Kumar Paramanik, OSD-cum-FA, Surendra Routray Addl Mission Director Jaga Mission, Sanjaya Rout, Administrative Officer OUIDF and other Officers highlighted Urban Sanitation, Community participation in Urban Initiatives like MUKTA, AAHAR, JALASATHI, Water Body Rejuvenation, Finance Management and MO Sarkar & 5T initiatives.
