Bhubaneswar, Nov 6: The Mohan Majhi government has requested reports from the collectors of four districts in Odisha regarding the upgrading of six Notified Area Councils (NACs) to municipalities, a move announced by the previous BJD government ahead of the 2024 elections.
On November 4, the Housing and Urban Development Department sent a letter to the collectors of Ganjam, Boudh, Mayurbhanj, and Balangir, urging them to provide the necessary information, as no further action had been taken due to the lack of required details.
This follows a similar reminder sent on November 2 to all collectors, excluding those from Deogarh, Gajapati, Jharsuguda, Kendrapada, Keonjhar, Malkangiri, and Nabarangpur, about the formation of new NACs.
Earlier, on February 29, former Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had announced the creation of 34 new NACs in 20 districts and the upgrade of five existing NACs—Boudhgarh (Boudh), Karanjia (Mayurbhanj), Kantabanji (Balangir), and Chhatrapur and Aska (Ganjam)—to municipalities to promote socio-economic development.
On March 13, the previous government also proposed upgrading Bhanjanagar NAC in Ganjam to a municipality and establishing 22 additional NACs in 13 districts. The government had sought proposals, including population details for each NAC, to proceed with the upgrade process under the Odisha Municipal Act, 1950.