The civic body will lease out the natural water bodies in the city to private entities in a bid to repay the loan it had taken to restore the ponds from the Odisha Urban Infrastructure Development Fund.

The Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation took a loan of Rs 27 crore from the urban body two years ago to restore 14 natural water bodies that had remained in a sorry state. Dewatering, slit removal, improvement of erosion-proof embankments and construction of the retaining wall were part of the job.

The civic body had then selected the ponds — Fishery pond at Lakshmi Sagar, Sundarpada Haja, Nilakantheswar ponds at Patia, Balunkeswar pond at Nayapalli and Masjid pond at Haridaspur — based on their condition and need of the local residents.

The restoration had started in March 2016 and by the end of March 2018, most of the ponds got restored except the bigger ones such as the Fishery pond and the Haja pond of Sundarpada. “There were some problems with the bigger ponds, but the rest of ponds are already restored and ready to be let out,” said a civic body official. The officials will now auction and provide the ponds to private entities, who would use it for fishing, recreational activities and so on.

But, the move has irked the local residents and environmentalist.

“It is not an ideal plan to lease out the ponds to private parties. There are chances of irregularities if so happens. The civic body should opt for other plans to repay their loan,” said Old Town resident Narayan Jena.

The initial plan, however, was not the same. The corporation was planning to construct sitting benches and walking tracks around the ponds, along with the provision of street lights over the embankments. The original plan was to ready the ponds for greater use of the residents living around it. But, due to manpower shortage, the civic body could not implement the plan.

“In the process, we had to deviate from the original plan. But at the same time, we also need to repay the loan. The matter was raised in the council meet as an agenda few months ago when officials and councillors supported it,” said another official.

Mayor Ananta Narayan Jena, however, said there were plans to come up with guidelines, to which the entity would have to abide by. “Officials will get the guidelines ready and then go for the auction. The private entity cannot use the ponds according to their will. They will have to adhere to the guidelines,” said Jena.

Lakshmi Sagar resident Md Hussain said the administration had turned blind eye to the ponds plight. “Now, letting those out to the private party may result in the same old condition of poor maintenance,” said Hussain.

Environmentalist Sailabala Padhi said the natural water bodies were filled with flora and fauna. “It is important to restore the ponds as it would contribute a lot to the betterment of environment and bring a balance in nature. The ponds should be used for inclusive recreational purpose,” said Padhi.