Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik is scheduled to inaugurate and lay foundation stones for multiple infrastructure and development projects worth over Rs 2,000 crore during his visit to Balasore today.
The CM will inaugurate at least 69 development projects including a railway over bridge (ROB) at Sovarampur in between Nilgiri Road & Balasore Station on Kharagpur-Bhadrak section.
Interestingly, the safety certificate for the railway over bridge is still under process. Moreover, the CRS sanction is also pending for the closure of the level crossing for which the ROB has been constructed.
Soon after learning about the inaugural programme, the Divisional Railway Manager sought a reply from the Office of the District Magistrate & Collector in this regard. In a letter, the Divisional Railway Manager has suggested rescheduling the inauguration to January first week only after the necessary safety certificate is obtained.
On the other hand, BJP came down heavily on the ruling party for not inviting any Union Ministers and Balasore MP Pratap Chandra Sarangi for the inaugural programme although the ROB was funded by the Centre. This has not gone well with BJP members and supporters of Sarangi who condemned the BJD supremo.
Launching a scathing attack on the Odisha government, BJP youth leader Manas Dutta said, “Speaking about Sovarampur Bridge, the funds are from the Central government. However, the CM doesn’t even have the courtesy to invite Union Ministers and BJP MP to the inaugural programme. Even, MP Sarangi has not received any invitation in this regard.”
“We are ashamed to expect any development from BJD that doesn’t even have the guts to be grateful to the Centre,” he added.
The BJP also questioned the CM for the inordinate delay in the construction of the new bus stand at Remuna. Although the foundation stone for the bus stand was laid 12 years back, the construction work is yet to start.
They also attacked the ruling party over the closure of Balasore’s only industry and the introduction of city bus services in the district. However, BJD in a counter-attack slammed the BJP for not bringing any major developmental changes in the district despite having its ministers at the Centre.
“We are not like BJP, that we make promises and forget them. If BJD has given a promise then it will be fulfilled at any cost. There may be delays for various reasons. However, we always complete the task at hand, because of which people of Odisha have faith in us and vote for us,” said BJD’s Pratap Keshari Deb, Minister of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises of Odisha.
Apart from the inauguration programme, the CM will also lay the foundation stone of 122 developmental projects and release Rs 220 crore to around 5600 SHGs in the district.
(Reported by Rashmi Ranjan Mohanty, OTV)