By Prof. Dr. P. K. Jena* in Bhubaneswar, April 16, 2016 : Bhubaneswar, the capital of Odisha has experienced unbelievable rise of day temperature to 45.80C on 11th April 2016. The temperature of Bhubaneswar on that day was highest in Odisha. The city may also be the leading one in cutting down the trees in and around, destroying the wetlands, drawing the ground water at a faster rate and polluting the surface and ground water bodies with its sewage water and garbage.

Unfortunately, these are responsible for causing various sufferings to the people of Bhubaneswar such as being exposed to very scorching sun, receiving dirty water to quench the thirst and getting infected by various water borne diseases. The beautiful greenery and soothing climate of the mid 20th century Bhubaneswar, have been a dream for us now.

In recent past, even during summer days, large number of tourists used to come for enjoying the pleasant climate and various natural beauties of the city along with visiting the temples and historical places. At that time, there was no dearth of natural recreation sites or any want of pure drinking water.

The Gangua Nala which was in recent past a beautiful fresh water body, is now the main sewage line of the city. Similarly, most of the wetlands including the river Daya, Kuakhai, Bindu Sagar and many other water tanks are fully polluted with the garbage and liquid effluents.

The Puri sub canal which branches out from main Puri canal near Hanshpal, is now completely filled with earth, weeds and bushes. In addition to this, most of the wetlands and forest areas including Chandaka Jungle in and around Bhubaneswar are replaced by large number of multistoried buildings. The greenery of Bhubaneswar now has been replaced mostly by the “Concrete Jungles”. The consequence of all these undesirable changes is being experienced by the people of Bhubaneswar.

Along with sizzling in hot sun, they are having insufficient drinking water and also suffering from water borne diseases like Jaundice, diarrhea etc., by consuming polluted water. This wretched state of the city is due to unscientific planning of projects and their implementation.
In order to bring back the healthy environment of Bhubaneswar, the authorities should seriously consider to plan and implement the following programmes as early as possible:

1) The dilapidated and polluted wetlands like Gangua Nala, Puri sub canal, Bindu Sagar, Papanasini, Kapileswar, Deepa Tank, Sukhmeswar Tank, Nala Kunda, Chintamaniswar tank, Chilli Pokhari, Sundarapada tank, Ekamra lake, Vani Vihar lake etc, have to be renovated, may be utilizing the funds available under MGNERGA programme. Necessary arrangements should also be made to harvest rain water in these as well as provisions should be made for recharging the aquifers in order to increase the ground water resources.

2) Daya and Kuakhai rivers should be kept away from the urban solid wastes and the sewage water. At the same time, necessary steps should be taken to treat the sewage water before letting those out to other water bodies and composting the solid organic wastes of the city. For these, technology is available; only the sincere efforts are required.

3) Around all the water bodies as well as on both sides of the roads, large number of commercial trees like neem, karanj, jamun etc should be planted.
4) The barren and open areas belonging to the Government in the periphery of Bhubaneswar should be converted into parks with massive plantation of commercial and ornamental trees. Along with this, development of the low lying areas in and around Bhubaneswar in to water tanks should also be undertaken.

5) Besides the Government taking care of water bodies and plantation of trees in the public places, the people in the residential areas and those in school and college premises should be motivated by the municipal authorities to cooperate in keeping their areas clean and undertaking plantation of various commercial trees.

The Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation authorities should take an active part in close collaboration with other concerned government departments and with the cooperation of the people of the city to implement the above programmes. In this way it will be possible to bringing back the pleasant and clean environment of Bhubaneswar and also in helping to make it a “Smart City”.

(Dr P K Jena is former Director General, Council of Scientific & Industrial Research, India)