Bhubaneswar, 22 August (H.S.): The Housing and Urban Development (H&UD) Department of the Odisha government will organise the Odisha Urban Conclave 2026, a comprehensive review-cum-orientation programme for Urban Local Bodies (ULBs), at the Convention Centre Auditorium, Lok Seva Bhawan, Bhubaneswar, on August 23.

The conclave will bring together senior administrators, urban planners, municipal leaders and engineering officials to review ongoing urban development initiatives, assess field-level challenges and set strategic priorities for faster and more effective urban transformation across the state.

The programme will feature an inaugural address by the Minister for Housing and Urban Development, followed by a presentation by the Additional Chief Secretary on key governance priorities.

The day-long event will deliberate on several critical aspects of urban governance, including ULB revenue augmentation, Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for Town Planning Schemes in Tier-II and Tier-III cities, Samruddha Sahar, the Urban Challenge Fund and infrastructure development under the Mukhyamantri Sahari Bikas Yojana (MSBY).

Focused sessions will also address AMRUT 2.0 waterbody rejuvenation, urban flood mitigation, pedestrian-friendly mobility and expansion of city bus services under CRUT. Welfare-oriented initiatives such as PM SVANidhi, Shelters for Urban Homeless and Aahaar will also be discussed.

Parallel technical sessions will focus on used-water management, Solid Waste Management (SWM) compliance and housing initiatives under PMAY-U 2.0.

The conclave will undertake a focused review of low-performing ULBs to identify operational bottlenecks and facilitate timely corrective measures. At the same time, scalable best practices adopted by better-performing ULBs will be showcased for replication across other urban centres.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Monalisa Panda