ROURKELA: Former union minister and BJP’s candidate from Rourkela Assembly constituency Dilip Ray has made a strong pitch for holding the election to Rourkela Municipal Corporation (RMC) which is pending for the last nearly 11 years.

During his campaign, Dilip has been insisting that if voted to power, he would ensure that the RMC elections are held at the earliest.

He is also highlighting the difficulties in execution of infrastructure projects and delivery of civic services in absence of an elected council for the RMC.

Dilip said there is no fully functional RMC council with elected and accountable representatives to offer interactive platform for exchange of ideas, feedback and opinions from the public.

As the Rourkela MLA between 2014 and 2018, Dilip on many occasions had drawn the attention of the state government towards holding the RMC elections.

After upgradation of Rourkela Municipality into RMC on November 14, 2014, a section of tribals opposed the merger of Jagda gram panchayat and part of Jhartarang into the corporation. Subsequently, they challenged the formation of RMC and obtained a stay order from the Orissa High Court in March, 2015.

The five-year tenure of the elected council of the erstwhile municipality ended on August 20, 2013. Since then, election to the RMC has not been conducted citing the court litigation.

In 2021, a writ petition was filed in the high court by former chairperson of the erstwhile municipality Nihar Ray seeking direction to the state government to hold the RMC election. The petitioner argued that the high court’s stay order was on formation of RMC and it implied that the municipality still exists. Hence, the Odisha Municipal Act and Rules, Odisha Municipality Delimitation of Wards, Reservations of Seats and Conduct of Election Rules, 1994 are applicable for administration of the Rourkela Municipality.

Former Rourkela MLA of Congress Pravat Mohapatra said residents are deprived of their democratic right of election and facing immense difficulties in availing civic services. Among other things, the sanitary situation of the city has deteriorated while traffic congestion and vehicle parking issues are going from bad to worse.

“Run by government officers, the RMC has no idea about the suffering of city residents. The officers too are not responsive to the people,” Mohapatra alleged.