Bhubaneswar to turn Wi-Fi city ahead of Odisha Men’s Hockey World Cup

Bhubaneswar: Good news for denizens of Bhubaneswar as their city will be under Wi-Fi network coverage ahead of upcoming Odisha Men’s Hockey World Cup scheduled from November 28.

Chief Secretary Aditya Prasad Padhi approved a proposal on complete makeover of the city here on Thursday.

As per the move, the city will get complete makeover before commencement of the international hockey event at Kalinga Stadium. The Wi-Fi service will be provided in all priority corridors with 75 locations and 300 access points before the world cup.

The people of the city will get high speed internet services after completion of the project.

While people will avail free internet for first half an hour, the service will be chargeable for further use after 30 minutes, sources said.

Reviewing the progress at a high level meeting at state secretariat yesterday, Padhi laid emphasis on completion of
infrastructure development and beautification works in the city for the ensuing Odisha Men’s’ Hockey World Cup as per schedule.

He set deadline for each work and directed the concerned departments to complete the projects on time.

Besides, Padhi approved 50 standard AC and 50 non-AC buses under City Bus Modernization plan and the renovation and construction of bus depots at Patrapada, Patia and Pokhariput.

He directed to complete the underground cabling of the road from Sishu Bhawan Chhak to Ram Mandir Square by October 30 this year and construct foot over bridge near Kalinga stadium for uninterrupted traffic flow and convenience of pedestrians.

Three routes were identified as special bus routes in view of the prestigious international events. This included Route-I- from KIIT square to Lingaraj square covering a length of 16.5 Km, Route-II from Janata Maidan to Kalinga stadium covering a length of 2.8 kms, and Route-III City Tour.

He also decided to upgrade the infrastructure in top 20 tourist places and asked the Tourism Department to finalize the list by April 25.

As per the decision at the meeting, additional road side urinals and public toilets will be set up in Bhubaneswar ahead of the hockey event.

Notably, BMC has already constructed 60 public toilets and 50 hybrid toilets across the city so far. It was decided to construct 60 more public toilets and 100 urinals. The urinals would be set up with prefabricated reinforced fiber materials. Padhi emphasized on proper cleaning and maintenance of the urinals.

The progress of public bicycle sharing system was also discussed at the meeting. Sources said that around 3500 bicycles will be available to the commuters through this project. It will be a fully automated system with smart card provisions. It was decided to issue the letter of agreement by May 10.

Further, the meeting deliberated on organization of city festival during Hokey World Cup. The events like heritage walk, patha utsav, Music Park, storytelling, folk-art, film festival and food bazaar will be organized in the city to give rich experiences to the visitors and the tourists during the period. The Chief Secretary advised the officials to organize qualitative events showcasing Odisha’s rich culture.

Notably, Men’s Hockey World Cup is scheduled from November 28 to December 16. Each day two matches will be played from 5.00 pm onwards while the quarter final will be played on December 12 and 13 and semi-final and final matches on December 15 and 16 respectively.

The Champion teams from 16 countries will participate in the World Cup and Matches will be played in 4 pools.

While the countries namely Argentina, New Zealand, Spain and France will be in Pool-A, Australia, England, Ireland and China will be in Pool-B, Belgium, India , Canada, and South Africa will be in Pool-C; and Netherlands, Germany, Malaysia and Pakistan will be in Pool-D.

This is for the third time that India is going to organize the prestigious World Cup and Odisha is proud of getting the opportunity to host it at Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar.

Earlier, India hosted Hockey World Cup for first time in 1982 in Bombay and for 2nd time in New Delhi in 2010.