Puri becomes 6th municipal corporation in Odisha as govt issues notification

Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government today issued a notification for upgradation of Puri municipality into a municipal corporation. 

“Puri municipality has been upgraded into a municipal corporation. The Housing and Urban Development (H&UD) Department has issued a notification in this regard,” said the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) today.

With this, Puri becomes the sixth city in Odisha to have the municipal corporation. Earlier, only five cities—Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Berhampur, Sambalpur and Rourkela—had their municipal corporations.

In July this year, Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi had announced that the state government would upgrade Puri municipality into a municipal corporation.

As per the plan, all the localities of Puri town and some gram panchayats of its surrounding areas will be included in the new municipal corporation.

“Lakhs of devotees from across the country and abroad visit Puri to have a darshan of Lord Jagannath. It is the duty of the state government to provide all basic facilities to the devotees. Besides, the residents of Puri town deserve better civic amenities. Taking all these aspects into consideration, the state government has decided to upgrade Puri municipality to a municipal corporation,” stated Majhi.

Govt also issued notifications for creation of 4 new NACs  

The state government also issued notifications announcing the creation of four new Notified Area Councils (NACs) in Odisha. It issued the notifications after receiving the necessary approval in this regard from the Odisha Governor under relevant Sections of the Indian Constitution and the Odisha Municipal Act, 1950. The newly-created NACs are Loisingha in Balangir, Chandikhol in Jajpur, Jashipur in Mayurbhanj and Basta in Balasore.

Besides, the government issued a draft notification for expansion of Berhampur city. 

The residents of Jashipur, meanwhile, thanked Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi, Urban Development Minister Krushna Chandra Mahapatra and Labour and Employee’s State Insurance Department Minister Ganesh Ram Singkhuntia for declaring the locality as a NAC.  

Jashipur and its nearby villages will be included in the NAC. The residents will get all civic amenities of an urban area, said the state government.