Rourkela: With Prime Minister Narendra Modi scheduled to visit Odisha tomorrow, to mark completion of four years of his government, inordinate delay in completion of two major projects- Brahmani Bridge and Super Speciality tag for Ispat General Hospital (IGH) in Rourkela continues to heat up the state's politics.
With resentment brewing among the steel city residents, BJP's Rourkela MLA Dilip Ray has shown displeasure over delay in the projects saying that despite four years have elapsed since the Prime Minister had made the announcements; the projects are yet to see the light of the day.
"We are yet to see any headway in both the projects even after repeated reminders. This issue has actually snowballed into a big disappointment in the minds of Rourkela citizens who think that they are being intentionally neglected," Ray said.
However, his party MP and Tribal Affairs Minister Jual Oram said that the issue is being raked up by some politicians for their personal benefit.
"In case of IGH issue, modernization and instrumentation work is already underway and a budget of Rs 10 crore has been allocated for that. As far as Brahmani Bridge is concerned, an agreement has already been signed and date fixation process is underway. Despite knowing all this, some people are intentionally trying to rake up this issue to take political mileage and personal credit for this," Oram said.
Meanwhile, the BJD has criticized the BJP for neglecting the interests of Odisha. "The BJP-led Centre is not at all interested in developing the State and the inordinate delay in construction of Brahmani Bridge and super specialty tag for IGH clearly shows that," said BJD District President (Rourkela) Anand Chandra Mohanty.
Meanwhile, to protest the Centre's negligence on the matter, Lead Rourkela, a local outfit has planned to stage agitation in a unique way. Members of the outfit have sent pots to the PM containing water from Brahmani River and soil from IGH.
It is pertinent to note that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had promised completion of the Brahmani Bridge and super speciality tag for IGH in his pre-election manifesto during his visit to Rourkela on April 5, 2014 and a year later in April 2015.