Segments

The H&UD Department functions through three Directorates, viz., Directorate of Municipal Administration (attached to the Department), Directorate of Town Planning and Chief Engineer, Public Health Engineering Organization (Urban). Besides, there are 5 Public Health (PH), SE Circles, 19 PH Divisions, 56 PH Sub-divisions, 20 District Town Planning Units, 110 Urban Local Bodies including (5 Municipal Corporations, 45 Municipalities and 60 Notified Area Councils), 9 Development Authorities, 7 Regional Improvement Trusts, 36 Special Planning Authorities, Odisha State Housing Board (OSHB), Odisha Water Supply & Sewerage Board (OWSSB), Odisha Rural Housing Development Corporation (ORHDC), Valuation Organization, NIHM, SUDAand OUIDF.

Municipal Administration in Odisha is managed by the Directorate of Municipal Administration (DMA), which is the apex administrative organization that regulates the functioning of all Municipal Corporations, Municipalities and Notified Area Councils in performing their regulatory and enforcement activities; by adhering to the policies, procedures and guidelines provided by the Govt. to achieve effective municipal administration in the state. It also does the monitoring and supervision of the developmental functions of the Urban Local Bodies.

The Directorate of Municipal Administration is headed by the Director, Municipal Administration. S/he coordinates the various activities of Municipal Corporations, Municipalities, and Notified Area Councils in the field of municipal tax administration, financial management, infrastructure development, town planning, urban health and sanitation, environment management and programs for the urban poor etc. DMA interacts with several other Departments and Directorates such as Public Health Engineering Organization, Town Planning, Development Authorities and OWSSB etc. to enable seamless delivery of urban civic services to the citizens. The Directorate has the responsibility to supervise the function of the Urban Local Bodies, work out suitable human resource policies, exercise disciplinary control over the staff, monitor the tax collection activities, lay down policies for transparency in expenditure, hear appeals against the decisions of ULBs, release the Government funds to the ULBs, as well as monitor implementation of schemes and programs. The Directorate also inspects the activities of ULBs, interacts with both elected representatives and the employees to find out both genuine and specific problems of urban administration and urban municipal services and work out the solutions for those problems.

The DMA, in his/her supervisory role, monitors the functioning of the ULBs against key parameters such as tax collection, execution of the project and civic works, implementation of various schemes of the Government etc., on the basis of which performance evaluation of all ULBs is made on an annual basis. Accordingly, the best performing Municipal Corporation, 3 Municipalities and 3 NACs are felicitated at the national level urban workshop organized by the H & UD Dept. in Bhubaneswar.