Government Partners in Sammaan

A lot of my work in Project Sammaan revolves around building strategic relationships with the various government departments in the BMC, the CMC and the Government of Odisha.

Some of the key departments that I interact regularly are:

Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC): BMC is one of the partners of Project Sammaan and is headed by the Mayor, who is an elected representative. From the administrative side, BMC is headed by the Commissioner; from Sammaan side, we have monthly review meetings of the project with the Commissioner.

Other key departments in BMC that Project Sammaan interact regularly are

1. Engineering Department: This department handles all the construction and tendering activities of Project Sammaan. The department is headed by City Engineer, with two Executive Engineers under him.

2. Land & Recovery Department: the Project Sammaan team works with this department to get land approvals for all the public and community toilet sites.  The department is headed by the Asst. Commissioner, Land. The Sammaan team also works with the Amins (land surveyors) to identify new sites for construction.

3. Slum Improvement Department: This is headed by the Slum Improvement Officer (SIO). They work on programs specific to development of the slums in Bhubaneswar. The Project Sammaan team works with the SIO to identify sites where toilets are required.

Cuttack Municipal Corporation (CMC): CMC is also one of the partners of Project Sammaan and too is headed by the Mayor, who is an elected representative. The administrative wing is headed by the Commissioner. Project Sammaan team closely works with the following departments:

1. Engineering Department:- This department handles all the construction and tendering activities of Project Sammaan. The department is headed by City Engineer, with two Executive Engineers under him.

2. Slum Improvement Department: This is headed by the Slum Improvement Officer (SIO). They work on programs specific to development of slums in Cuttack. The Project Sammaan team works with the SIO to identify sites where toilets are required.

In addition to the BMC and CMC, the project team closely works with the following departments of Government of Odisha:

1. Housing & Urban Development Department (H&UD): The H&UD Department is the nodal department of Government of Odisha for development of urban infrastructure and services to citizens through the Urban Local Bodies. The department is currently headed by Assistant Chief Secretary (ACS). The Commissioners of Bhubaneswar and Cuttack report to him for all interactions with the Government of Odisha. All Project Sammaan-related tender documents and files will be approved by the H&UD department.

2. Odisha Water Supply & Sewerage Board (OWS&SB): This department looks after development and proper regulation of water supply and sewerage services in the state of Odisha. State Govt.  The project team closely interacts with the senior officials of OWS&SB for the design of sewerage options for both the public and community toilets.

Apart from this, I also interact with the Odisha Pollution Control Board and the Odisha Electricity Department to gather information related to the project.