Sulochana Das: Mayor On A Mission

Sulochana Das: Mayor On A Mission

Sulochana Das created history when she became the first woman Mayor of Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC), earlier in March this year. With an aim to create a smart and vibrant Bhubaneswar, she plans to make the Smart City one of the best places to live in the country. With easy access to healthcare and civic amenities for all, her vision is bold. 

Within the first few months of being elected, Sulochana has created a place for herself by reaching out to people and solving their issues. She spends as much time on the field as she does in the office. Her team has made sure that the people’s mayor is available to them whenever they need her. This accessibility has created a space where the administration and the public can come together to solve the issues of the city of temples to make it a truly smart city. 

On the occasion of the completion of 100 days of the new council, My City Links caught up with the Mayor to find out about her vision for the city and how she intends to solve various pertinent issues of concern. Read on to know. 

There is a rise in the number of COVID 19 cases in Bhubaneswar. Even though BMC has issued a mask mandate, people are not following it strictly. How do you plan to raise more awareness or enforce the mandate?

Team BMC has been visiting various wards across the city and meeting people and are trying to understand their problems and expectations from them. We have made a small effort to create a public interface where all the stakeholders come together. We are using this as an opportunity to create awareness regarding covid hygiene. Team BMC would like to request each and every individual to wear a mask and every organisation to enforce a mask mandate and also those who have not yet taken the booster dose, please do. It is available for free at multiple locations in the city. We are organising street plays across the city to raise awareness. We have increased testing and are aggressively pursuing vaccination.   

Team BMC is also reaching out to various sections of the public through different methods like using IECs, reaching out door-to-door, addressing children in schools, meeting community and RWA members etc. We are sure with the support from the public this covid situation will remain in control. 

How do you plan to tackle miscreants engaged in broad daylight violence with deadly weapons?

The Commissionerate of Police is doing a tremendous job in nabbing miscreants and we all must acknowledge it. The people of Bhubaneswar are peace-loving but like any other place, there are some who create nuisance by breaking the law. Team BMC is in constant touch with the Commisionerate and whenever we get a distress call our helpline number- 1929 we immediately inform the police. Besides this, the police had given us a list of vulnerable places due to lack of illumination and we had immediately installed street lights to avoid any untoward incident. 

Tell us about how you plan to empower the women of the city?

Team BMC is helping in facilitating various programs that are aimed to empower women. We have adopted Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s MUKTA scheme which aims to empower women financially by providing upto Rs 10 lakh loan to take on different kinds of contractual work with the BMC, like constructing paved roads, setting up of community halls and rainwater harvesting reservoirs. This scheme not only provides women with financial support but also boosts their confidence and they also contribute towards the environment. Apart from this, BMC has also included women to be Swacha Sathis and Jala Sathis. BMC’s Micro Composting Centers are operated by women. Soon we’ll be coming up with a special vending zone which will be dedicated to women. These are just a few of the things that team BMC is working on right now. We will soon come up with more ways to empower women financially which help them stand up for themselves socially as well. 

Tell us about the new skill development center.

Team BMC has a tie-up with JSPL and through this partnership we have come up with a Skill Development Center where the youth of slum communities would be trained in various skills so that they become self-sustainable. When the youth of the city develop skills that can help them in earning a decent living, they will move away from the world of drugs and crime. We need to show them that there is a world of opportunities and they can do wonders. 

Even though plastic is banned it is still available everywhere. Both the shopkeepers are providing and the public is asking for it. How do you intend to solve this issue?

Fine is not a solution to anything, it is the last resort. Awareness is the key to solve the issue of plastic usage. People should understand how hazardous plastic is for our environment as well as our health. Slowly but surely the change is happening. One of the major reasons for dependence on plastic is lack of proper alternatives. It was great to meet a team of sweetshop owners who visited us recently and inquired about alternatives to plastic which they were willing to adopt. We need to find replacements for plastic when it comes to wet products. We are constantly looking into it and I hope we will soon have some solution and we stop this menace. 

The monsoon is here and we are facing water logging at many places across Bhubaneswar. What steps are you taking to sort the situation? 

Team BMC is looking into the interventions that can be taken to solve the issue of water logging in Bhubaneswar. In the short term, we are continuously desilting the drains so that the water can flow easily. Also team BMC has identified 75 vulnerable places and has placed pump sets across the city to avoid flooding. At the same time we are working on a long term plan as well which we intend to complete in the next few months. We will work in coordination with various departments and create a master plan to solve the problem permanently. 

The 10 main drains and 5 sub-drains of Bhubaneswar discharge water into the Gangua Nala which is under the Irrigation department and has been encroached by people at many places, has lost its intake capacity. Team BMC will soon take charge of the Nala and work towards restoring it and creating a permanent solution for the water logging issue. 

While we continue to address the issue, we would also request the citizens of the smart city to not throw their garbage into the drains. While it is the duty of the administration to solve the problems of the people, it is also the responsibility of the people to help the administration address these issues by cooperating.