Cuttack: While the Cuttack-in-Cuttack pavilion on lower Baliyatra ground was constructed to celebrate the city’s spirit of brotherhood, it is now lying in neglect.
In a bid to celebrate the city’s unique characteristic, a special pavilion called ‘Cuttack in Cuttack’ was inaugurated last year as part of an initiative by the Cuttack Municipal Corporation (CMC).
Every year, the CMC and the Culture Department take various steps to make the Sand Festival attractive to the general Public.
However, the pavilion, constructed at a cost of around Rs 22 crore last year is lying in neglect with the Cuttack Municipal Corporation (CMC) failing to utilise it to generate revenue. The civic body had spent around Rs 3 crore in the first phase for developing the land and constructing replicas of Dhabaleswar temple, a Baptist church, Gurudwara and Qadam e Rasool at the pavilion.
Later, Rs 19 lakh was spent on setting up a children’s park, fencing the pavilion with iron grills, colouring the trunks of the trees and constructing concrete platforms at the base of around 40 trees to enable revellers to sit relax and enjoy the natural scenic beauty around it. The CMC had chalked out plan to dedicate the pavilion to people who could hold picnics, meetings and conferences by paying user fees. However, with nobody to take care of the pavilion, the branches of the trees have broken and the fencing around it damaged.
Though locals have continuously demanded for the preservation of this place, but no steps have been taken yet.