Bhubaneswar - Civic Administration

Civic Administration

The Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation, or BMC, oversees and manages the civic infrastructure of the city's 60 wards. Each ward elects a councillor to the BMC. By means of the standing committees, the corporation undertakes urban planning and maintains roads, government-aided schools, hospitals, and municipal markets. As Bhubaneswar's apex body, the corporation discharges its functions through the mayor-in-council, which comprises a mayor, a deputy mayor, and other elected members of the BMC. The functions of the BMC include water supply, drainage and sewerage, sanitation, solid waste management, street lighting, and building regulation. As of 2012, the Biju Janata Dal controls the BMC; the mayor is Ananta Narayan Jena and Deputy Mayor is Bharati Singh. The Bhubaneswar Development Authority is responsible for the statutory planning and development of greater Bhubaneswar.

As the seat of the Government of Orissa, Bhubaneswar is home to not only the offices of the local governing agencies, but also the Orissa Legislative Assembly and the state secretariat. Bhubaneswar has lower courts: the Court of Small Causes and the City Civil Court decide civil matters; the Sessions Court rules in criminal cases. The Bhubaneswar–Cuttack Police Commissionerate, established in 2008, is a city police force with primary responsibilities in law enforcement and investigation within Bhubaneswar-Cuttack area. It has 40 police stations under its jurisdiction. Sunil Roy is currently the commissioner.